


Don't Think We're in Kansas

by phantisma



Category: Stargate Atlantis, Supernatural
Genre: Dubious Consent, M/M, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-17
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-14 16:37:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 76,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/517368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantisma/pseuds/phantisma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Sheppard and his team are visiting a planet in hopes of establishing trade when John thinks two prisoners look suspiciously like they're wearing earth clothes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“What do you mean by stuck?”

“I mean get comfortable, we’re not going anywhere.”

“Rodney.”

“Growling at me isn’t going to fix it.”

“What is?” John put his hands on his hips and stared at Rodney, but before Rodney could answer him, his radio crackled.

“Colonel Sheppard, come in.”

“Go ahead Teyla.”

“I have spoken to the negotiator of the Sagare. It appears that they are willing to discuss trade.”

“Good. Go ahead and get started. Rodney and I will just be fixing whatever it is he broke when he fiddled with stuff on our descent.”

“This is **not** my fault.” Rodney said.

John ignored him and turned to look for where Ronon was still scouting the area where they had…landed.

“I’m afraid they will not negotiate unless you are present, Colonel.”

“Come again?”

“They require that our Emir, our leader, preside over the negotiations.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake. Why didn’t we make you the Emir again?”

He could hear the amusement in her voice as she answered. “Because, Colonel, you introduced yourself as our leader when we first arrived.”

“Right. Okay. I’m on my way.” He looked up again, then pressed the button on the radio one last time. “Ronon. Get back here and cover Rodney’s ass while I’m gone.”

“No.” Rodney said suddenly, emerging from the shuttle. “No. You’re not leaving me with him. He’ll drive me crazy. I won’t get anything done.”

“So you want me to leave you alone?”

Rodney looked startled, but nodded. “Yes. That’s an excellent idea. Take Ronon with you. I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?”

Rodney nodded as Ronon came trotting up. “What’s going on?”

“Teyla needs me in the village.” John gestured at Rodney. “He thinks you’ll drive him crazy. Would you?” Ronon smirked and John dropped his head. “Okay, you’re with me. Rodney, keep in touch.”

“Yes Colonel…I’ll call if I need you.”

“Just…don’t break anything…else.”

“I didn’t break this.” Rodney said, exasperated.

John smirked and clapped Ronon on the shoulder. “Maybe if we’re lucky, Teyla can score us some of those scone-things we had the last time.”

“Those were good. And that bread, with the butter?”

“Hey! Colonel Sheppard.” John stopped and looked back at Rodney who was closing up the jumper and coming toward them with his pack. “I—they might have something we could use to replace the coil…so I should come with you.”

He bustled past them, rambling on about the jam and the “pink honey-stuff” and John shook his head as Ronon laughed. “He’s so damn easy.”

Ronon leaned a little closer with his own smirk. “Not as easy as you.” He lifted both eye brows and then walked away.

“Look who’s talking.”

 

Rodney was still rambling about the food as they neared the village. Ronon tapped John’s shoulder and gestured with his chin toward a group of five men in chains were being led along the road from the east. John grabbed Rodney and turned him toward them. “Rodney, see anything…strange?”

“Prisoners?” Rodney squinted. “Criminals maybe.”

“Maybe…but not what I’m thinking. Look at the two on the end.”

The last two in the line were taller than the others, taller than any of the Sagare he’d met in his previous two trips here. More than that, they were dressed…differently. Ronon shook his head beside him. “They’re taller, but they could just be from elsewhere on the planet.”

John shook his head. “No. The taller one.” He pulled out his binoculars and adjusted them, focusing on the feet. “If I’m not mistaken, those are Converse.”

He handed the binoculars to Rodney who adjusted them for his eyes and swept them over the two in question. “Clothes…definitely not something we’ve seen in the Pegasus galaxy.”

“Not ours though.” John said, taking back the glasses. “Okay…let’s keep moving. We’ll see what we can find out.”

Teyla was easy enough to find, waiting for them on the steps to the meeting hall. She stood as they approached, brushing a stray hair behind her ear. “They have adjourned for the midday meal.”

John nodded, his eyes scanning the area. “Okay…look. I want to do some looking around. If they were keeping prisoners, where do you suppose they’d do it?”

“Prisoners?”

“Yeah…like in chains.”

“I have seen no one in chains.”

“We did. And I want to know more.” John grabbed her arm and pointed toward one of the merchants. “Ask him.” She looked down at his hand on her arm, then up at him. He copied the look, then released her with a sheepish grin. “Sorry.”

Teyla’s face softened and she nodded to John before turning to the man and asked in her best approximation of their language. “He says they are unprocessed, but if you saw something which interests you the…Dakur Emir might be persuaded to show them.”

“Dakur Emir?”

She shrugged. “Ask him where.”

It bothered him. Jeans and t-shirts and jackets and Converse. Earth clothes. He wasn’t going into any negotiations until he knew.

“It is behind the main hall.”

John nodded and smiled at the merchant, who still looked puzzled by their questions. “What are we talking about here? Did he say what they did wrong?”

Teyla shook her head. “He called them hafine.”

“That’s the word they used to describe us.” Ronon said. “Isn’t it?”

Teyla took a deep breath and nodded. “I assumed it meant servant. Perhaps I am still not clear on the vocabulary. It is an obscure variation.”

“I’m not clear on a lot of things.” John muttered. The social structure of the Sagare mystified him. For one thing the title Emir seemed to imply leadership or at the very least wealth and importance. Hafine seemed to mean servant…and yet many hafine were clearly very close and very trusted by their Emirs.

They rounded the building and there were a series of tents. Emirs, trailed by anywhere from one to 5 hafine, milled around while barkers in brightly colored robes tried to entice them into their tents. “I shall see what I can find.”

John cleared his throat and she turned. “They were tall, and…dressed differently.” She nodded and jogged on ahead. “I’m not really liking this.”

“It does have all the markings of a slave market.” Ronon said softly. “I’ve seen my share.”

“If it’s a slave market, why is it we don’t see slaves?” Rodney asked.

John’s eyes swept the area in front of the tents where Teyla waited. “Well?”

“Colonel Sheppard, may I present Emir Dolan. Emir, bari noshe don Emir, Colonel Sheppard.”

The short man in brilliant blue robes bowed in semi-formal greeting, his hands folded in front of him, then spread wide to either side.

“Dude, calm down.”

“I will not calm down. You got us into this.”

“Why is it my fault?”

“Maybe if you didn’t feel the need to touch everything, we wouldn’t be…wherever the hell it is we are.”

John raised an eyebrow and looked at Rodney. “Dude?”

“Mon faire.” The man bowed slightly again and disappeared into the tent. It suddenly got quiet, and he returned a soft smile on his face. He spoke briefly with Teyla who turned to John.

“He apologizes for the outburst. They are very new and he had not yet activated their…” She made a face that indicated she couldn’t translate the words. “He says that they will be silent now.”

“Well…good. I want to see them, the two that were on the end.”

Teyla translated and the man held up his arms, shaking his head while he talked. “He…regrets that these are entirely too new for viewing. They haven’t been…groomed.”

John made a face. “I don’t care.” He leaned in close and lowered his voice. “Get me in there, Teyla.”

“Easy, Colonel. I will do my best.” She took a breath and turned to the man, a soft smile on her face. She did her best to express the great desire her leader had to look upon the two that were on the end of the chained prisoners. The man fussed at her, then called over another man, slightly taller, his robes a ridiculous purple that John had already learned equated to a fair amount of power. This new man spoke to Teyla and she turned back to John finally. “This is the Dakur Emir. He runs the…market. He asks if your interest is…for a…personal hafine.”

“Personal hafine?” She shrugged and John looked at the older man. He opened his mouth to respond, but wasn’t sure what to say.

“It has been noted, Emir Colonel, that you possess no hafine to attend your person.” The Dakur Emir said in heavily accented English. “It would remain my honor to assist you in the choosing of such.”

“Yeah…okay…let’s do that. The tall one.”

The Emir held out a hand in gesture toward the tent and two in the brown tunics that marked the town’s guard held aside the flap. “I fear the tall one is unsuitable as such, Emir Colonel. But please to see the other.”

John ducked into the tent, his eyes sweeping over the five men in two cages. The two separated from the others looked back at him, the others dropped their eyes. “Is pretty, yes?” He pointed at the shorter of the two and John had to agree that yes, he was pretty.

It was obvious the man was yelling at them, the way his face turned red while his mouth moved. “He has sparked much talk as he came to be here. Already offers.”

John held up both hands, hoping it would calm them. Up close it was even more obvious that these were not Pegasus galaxy humans. “Rodney, don’t you have a pair of jeans like those?” John caught the eyes of the shorter, and older he could see, one and gestured for him to lift his shirt. The Dakur Emir made a twirling motion with his finger. There was fury in the man’s eyes as he glared back at John, then the Emir pressed something at his wrist and the man lifted his shirt and turned slowly. It was obvious he was fuming.

“Wranglers?” Rodney said quietly. He looked at John and back, his mouth slightly open. He squinted up at the taller one, then nodded. “Yeah. Brought them back last time I went home.”

The tall one was looking at them now…seeming to ask questions with just his eyes. “Where are they from?” John asked.

The Dakur Emir moved closer. He spoke to Teyla briefly and she nodded. “They came out of the place of which they do not speak.”

“What does that mean?”

“He will not explain further.” Teyla responded.

“He is most pleasurable?” The Emir looked hopeful.

“They are both…pleasurable.” John said, trying to figure out how to play this.

“No…he is too tall…too weak. Macunta. Macunta a par.”

John looked to Teyla. “He is injured.”

“So?”

The older one was staring daggers at John now, holding the younger one’s arm. He could see now the kid’s jacket was bloody, his arm cradled against his chest. The Emir spoke to Teyla and bowed briefly before disappearing out the front of the tent. “They are to be separated. The injured one is unfit for more than field work, and is not expected to survive long. The other is meant for softer duty.”

Both of them looked at Teyla, obviously taken back by that, though whether it was to the taller one’s survival expectancy or the statement about softer duty, John couldn’t be sure. He wasn’t sure what softer duty meant himself, but he had other concerns at the moment.

John stepped up close to the bars. “Tell me I’m not crazy here, boys. You are…from Earth, right?”

They looked at each other, then at him like he was crazy. The uninjured one bent down and scribbled a word in the sand. Kansas.

“Colonel John Sheppard, US Air Force.” John said softly. “I’m going to do everything I can to get you two out of there.”

He pulled his team together. “Okay, Rodney, you get back to the jumper. Get us in the air. Teyla, find out what we need to do to…get both of them.”

“I fear we will need to trade for them, and I am not certain we brought enough medicines for the price.”

“You’re my negotiator, Teyla, negotiate.”

 

“I have convinced the Dakur Emir that we are most serious in desiring both.” Teyla said as she rejoined John and Ronon at a café not far from the market. “He is considering the service the younger one is capable of.”

“What does it matter to him? It’s not like it matters to me.”

She held up her hands. “It is a law or tradition of some sort, that the hafine are…assigned duties before they are…sold. I confess, much of the language is mystifying.” She thanked the serving girl as she set a plate in front of her. “He will meet with us after our meal to tell us whether we will be able to take both and begin negotiations for the price.”

“I really don’t like this.” John said. “We came here looking to trade for food.”

Ronon chuckled and both John and Teyla turned to look at him. Ronon lifted his glass. “Dr. Weir is going to flip.”

John closed his eyes. “Elizabeth.” Ronon was right. She was going to get upset. “We’ll deal with that later. Right now I’m concerned with getting us off world without having to resort to violence to take these two with us.”

“Do you truly believe these men are from your world?” Teyla asked.

John nodded. “Yeah. Don’t know how they got here, and won’t until we can actually talk to them.”

She smiled. “The Dakur Emir is most anxious for trade with us. Apparently it will offer him some prestige. It should not be long before you are able to speak with them.”

John nodded and tried not to worry…but two men from Earth appearing out of nowhere on a planet with no planet-side Gate was troublesome. It meant that there was another way into the Pegasus galaxy…and if there was a way in, there was a way out too.

 

The Dakur Emir looked pleased to see them as they approached. He bowed in greeting and Teyla echoed his movement. “Emir Colonel, to be pleased. We have found the necessary. The pretty one to be your personal hafine, the other to attend him.”

“Attend him?”

The Emir nodded enthusiastically. “It is old tradition, for the hafine of mighty Emir be served by a hafine so Emir not having to bother with needs.”

“The slave gets a slave all his own?” John murmured to Teyla who shrugged.

“Is pleasing?”

John nodded. “Yes, most pleasing. How much?”

“Colonel.” Teyla hissed at him, rolling her eyes in annoyance . “There is tradition for the negotiations as well.”

John rolled his eyes. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? Can we see them?”

The Dakur Emir spoke directly to Teyla who nodded, then turned to John. “They have been taken for…grooming…and to prepare them for the….gallo me parfit…a ceremony of some sort.”

“To excuse, Emir Colonel. I must went to business.”

John watched him go, then turned to Teyla. “Make sure that the injured one gets medical attention. And get this negotiation over with. I want to get back to Atlantis and rethink the whole trading with people who keep slaves thing.”

“Ah, the village Emir and the negotiators.” Teyla said, turning John to greet the leader of the village. “My Lord Emir. We apologize for our delay in returning.”

“No need, no need. We are most pleased that Emir Colonel would choose from our humble offerings. A man of his skill and stature should be attended with a full compliment of hafine.”

“Your English has improved since we were here last.” John observed wryly. Unlike the Dakur Emir, the Village Emir wore his purple more regally than ridiculous, his robes looking stately.

The Emir inclined his head. “I have always had fascination for the language of the Ancestors. Your visits have encouraged me to learn.” He leaned in toward John and lowered his voice. “There are those among our Emirs who worried you had no personal hafine to care for you…though many speculated that among your people you might chose one of your other hafine for such duty.” His eyes glanced up at Ronon, a sly grin on his face.

John looked at Ronon, a blush creeping up his neck. Ronon grinned at him. John wanted to smack him. Or maybe drag him somewhere more private. He wasn’t sure.

“We are most honored that you have chosen…and such a beautiful hafine.”

“I hope this will not preclude further discussion of trade.” Teyla said and the Emir inclined his head.

“Dakur Emir has spoken to me already and is willing to include the price of the hafine in our discussions.”

“Good.” John took a deep breath. “Let’s get to it then, I’d like to head home soon.”

“The gallo me parfit will be tomorrow morning. Then there is the first, to ensure the satisfaction of you. We have time to make all concerned happy in trade.”

John frowned. “I can’t just…take them?”

The Emir smiled. “What manner of trade partners would let you leave without knowing of your happiness with your purchase?”

John hung his head and gestured for Teyla to precede him into the meeting hall. He was beginning to think that the entire trading idea was over rated. They didn’t have the best track record. There were harvest festivals and strange customs, entire planets that wouldn’t negotiate with women, others that would only negotiate with women. Then there was the Genii, and the debacle that they became.

Of course, it was the Sagare’s relationship with the Genii that had kept them from seeking trade before now. But, with the Genii under new leadership and supposedly less of a threat, Elizabeth had decided the Sagare could be beneficial allies.

Which led them here, with enough medicine and tools for modest trade…and two men from Earth where they had no right to be…smack in the middle of a slave market. He felt eyes on him and looked up. Teyla was waiting for him, her smile strained. “Sorry.” He was glad to have Ronon at his back and Teyla to do the bulk of the talking. He unclipped his weapon as he sat, nodding to Teyla to take point. She smiled and inclined her head to their head negotiator.

There would be niceties and exchanges prior to beginning anything seriously. John just hoped he could manage to stay awake.

 

 

 

Dean Winchester was not a happy man. It had only a little to do with the fact that he was currently standing naked in knee high water while men moved around him, pouring water over him. It had more to do with the fact that the day had started out crappy and turned ugly and had devolved into bat-shit insane…and it wasn’t even over.

He fumed as they turned to scrubbing his naked flesh with soaps that smelled entirely too much like fruit for his taste, craning his neck to try to keep Sam in his sights. He’d been bathed as well, though not nearly as thoroughly and was sitting, also naked, on a sort of cot, having his arm wrapped in white bandages.

It was bad. He knew that. Too much blood and the frightening way his brother had gone pale and grabbed at it told him that it needed more attention than a bandage. He was worried about the bump on his head too…and the way Sam’s words slurred from time to time…although, that problem seemed to have been eliminated, along with their ability to speak.

It didn’t help that he couldn’t understand what anyone was saying, except for that supposed Air Force Colonel and the man in the purple dress.. He did understand cages though, and he’d pretty much made out that they were being sold.

Sold.

And maybe his life was screwed up, but this was nuts. He looked for Sam again, panicking when he wasn’t immediately visible. Then he saw him, towering over the men handling him, dressing him. Dean shook his head as he was led up out of the shallow water.

The whole bath thing was fine…though he’d prefer it were five pretty girls than five short guys…but at least he was clean. He still didn’t understand where they were, and Air Force guy had asked if they were _from_ Earth…which sounded ominously like that meant they weren’t _on_ Earth…and that was too much to consider, so he didn’t, just glowered at the men who were guiding him toward something that looked like a dentist’s chair with a Robocop kit.

He shook his head when they indicated he should sit in it. He tried to say “No,” but of course his voice was still AWOL. Eventually they poked and prodded him into the contraption and strapped him down.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to go far into making him feel any more comfortable with the whole situation. He couldn’t see Sam, couldn’t move…and that was a needle…entirely too close to his head. He felt it bite into him and yelled silently until he felt something shift and he relaxed into the chair.

It took a moment to recognize that they had probably drugged him…and a few minutes later he was grateful as the chair moved and tiny needles pricked his back and something pressed against his naked ass. He probably would have bolted if he hadn’t been strapped down and if the drug hadn’t made the whole thing…softer.

Images filled his mind…memories mixed with faces…the Air Force guy, Sam, then there was other stuff…Dean was startled at first to see naked people, touching, kissing…sex in every position he could imagine and a few he couldn’t. He didn’t have to look to know he was aroused. Kinky shit followed…toys and spankings, restraints, groups…and yeah that was his dick leaking onto his stomach…which should bother him…but oddly didn’t.

Eventually, his eyes closed and he lost himself to the stimulus.

His next conscious thought was that he was cold. He opened his eyes. He wasn’t in the chair. He was on one of the cots, still naked. Sam sat on another, his long legs in white wispy pants, and he was staring at him. Dean sat up slowly. His body ached vaguely like he’d had an extra long workout.

He swept his eyes over his brother. “You okay?” Sam asked and Dean jumped.

“Voices?”

Sam shrugged. “Apparently. I figured it out when you were moaning.”

“Moaning? Great.”

“What the fuck is going on, Dean?”

Dean shook his head and stood up. They were in a curtained off space, the two cots with three feet between them and little else. “We alone?”

“Haven’ t seen anyone.”

Dean paced a little, chewing on his lip. He didn’t want to face it. It was too unreal…too…so he turned to look at Sam, squatting beside him to look at his arm. “How bad?”

Sam made a face and pulled the arm away from Dean, cradling it against his chest. “It’s broken, and ripped up, and it fucking hurts.”

Dean nodded, abandoning his attempts to look at it. The bandaging was at least keeping it from being injured further. “Your head?”

Sam’s good hand fluttered to the left side of his head that had connected pretty hard with the rock walls of the cave they’d found themselves in after…”I’m okay…for now. But this is…”

“Insane, I know.” Dean went back to pacing. “I don’t know what we stumbled into, Sam. But this is way beyond our normal gig.”

Sam chuckled. “You think?”

“What do you make of that Air Force guy?”

“Sheppard?” Sam blew out slowly. “I’m not sure. He seemed…legit.”

“Except for the fact that he asked us if we were _from Earth_ …which I find a little odd, considering I don’t remember leaving Earth, Sammy…and the fact that he’s apparently buying us from the guy in the purple dress.”

“Okay, see that’s what bothers me. The way they were talking.” Sam shuddered. “I don’t know where we are or what exactly is going on, Dean, but I’m not liking it.”

The curtain opened and the man in purple stood in the opening. “I am to see that you are speaking the language of the Emir Colonel?”

They looked at one another, then nodded slowly. A smile spread across the man’s face. “Then I can help to instruct you for the coming gallo me parfit.”

“The gallo what?” Dean asked.

“We are to prepare you for your Emir. Please to sit for my words.”

Sam sat first, pulling on Dean’s arm when he didn’t immediately follow suit. Slowly, Dean sat down beside his brother. “There will be small food. The carden,” he pointed to a spot on his neck and both Sam and Dean reached for the spot on their own necks, “…will return, so you can not break the silence. The pretty one will be go to bathe and groom for the gallo me parfit. The broken one will be go to present Emir Colonel.”

“Can I ask a question?” Sam asked, his forehead all crinkled.

The man in purple nodded. “It is to help you that I am come.”

“Okay…why is this happening? What did we do?”

“You were in the place we will not speak of. You are wrong.”

“Wrong?” Dean asked.

“Punished.”

“Punished? For what?”

The man sighed explosively. “It is wrong to go there. Those that go do not return. You did not go, but you came.”

“I’m starting to get dizzy.” Dean murmured to Sam. “So…because we came out of that cave, we get sold to be slaves?”

“All wrong is punished.” He clapped his hands. “We go now to food.”

The bevy of men that had been buzzing about before were back, urging them to their feet and escorting them out of the curtained room and past the bathing area into another room where there were soft pillows on the floor around a low table. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think we were in a harem.” Dean joked.

Sam poked him and followed the man who was urging him to sit. The table had a few plates of breads and fruits, none of which looked very familiar. “Sit and to eat. Soon to come your Emir.”

Dean rolled his eyes as Sam settled onto one of the pillows, his long, gangly legs looking ridiculous as he tried to keep balance and not jar his arm against the table. “Okay. Fine. Eat. I can do—“ And just like that his voice was gone. He cursed and fought the urge to throw himself at the ridiculous man in his ridiculous dress. Instead he forced himself to sit beside Sam and reach for something that vaguely resembled an apple.

 

 

“Rodney, this is Sheppard, come in.”

“Oh, nice to hear from you, Colonel.”

“Just tell me you fixed it.”

“More or less.”

“What does that mean?”

“It should fly enough to get us off world and through the gate.”

“Should?” John exhaled and looked at Teyla and Ronon. It had been a very long night of negotiations and he didn’t think he had enough brain left to deal with Rodney on top of everything else.

“Yes. With you flying, everything should be fine.”

“I’m not flying, Rodney. You are.”

“What? Why?”

“I need to stay here while you and Teyla go back to Atlantis for the rest of our trade. Ronon and I are staying here, to show our good faith.”

“You’re the better pilot…and this is going to be shaky. I had to sabotage some systems to get us in the air.”

“I can’t leave, Rodney. You’re flying. You’ll do fine. Just…You have until Teyla and the Emir’s transport team get there to make it as safe as you can. Then you’re gone. Sheppard out.” He wasn’t going to argue or stroke the man’s ego, he just wasn’t in the mood.

Teyla hefted her pack and strapped it on. “Are you certain you will not need my services?”

“Keep Rodney on track and give Elizabeth a heads up. I’ll be fine. After all, I have my other hafine to keep me safe.” He smirked at Ronon who crossed his arms and stared back.

“You’re having way too much fun with that.”

John chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t think there’s any such thing. I mean…come on, Ronon. The way the Emir defined you guys.” He inclined his head to Teyla. “My diplomatic hafine, who gets me what I want. Rodney, my scientific hafine, who makes sure that what I get is what I wanted.” His smirk grew into a grin. “And you, my body guard hafine, who…covers my ass.” John’s smirk grew as he met Ronon’s eyes, then he let it drop as Teyla’s eyebrow raised.

There was a knock at the door and Teyla went to answer it. “I will return as quickly as I can with the remainder of the supplies for trade.”

John nodded and watched her go. When the door was closed John stood and moved closer to Ronon. “Hey.”

Ronon looked away as John tilted his face up. “Cover you ass?”

John nodded. “Well, you do.”

Ronon snorted.

“Kiss me.”

“No.”

“Oh, come on. We’re alone.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Ronon huffed and shook his head. “You’re impossible.”

John grinned. “I know.”

Ronon cocked an eyebrow, then bit lightly into his lower lip, dragging it inward. It was mystifying to John why that simple thing did… _that_ to him. “Just a little one?” But he knew the look, and when Ronon crossed his arms, he knew he’d just been shut down.

Another knock pulled them apart and Ronon pulled the door open, looking over the men the village Emir had sent to get them. “They’re ready for us, Emir Colonel.” Ronon said, his voice teasing.

“You think you’re cute?” John asked as he grabbed his gear and headed for the door.

“I know I am.” Ronon answered as John slid past him.

 

 

The Emir’s personal guards escorted John and Ronon through the market and up the hill to a building John had considered a personal residence. It was obvious as they came closer that this wasn’t the case.

The receiving hall was spacious and dotted with potted plants and trees that seemed to be growing out of the floor. They passed through it and into a private office where they were pointed to chairs and left alone.

“So…what are we doing here?” Ronon asked when it was obvious they’d be alone a while.

“The way Teyla explained it, there’s a ceremony or something. It involves me accepting my new hafine.” John fidgeted. “Something to do with collars and some mumbo jumbo she didn’t quite understand.”

“Kinky.” Ronon said with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

“Stop it. I’m sure it’s perfectly innocent.”

Ronon looked like he was going to say something, but the door opened and the village Emir swept in, bowing and smiling. “So happy to have you, Emir Colonel. We are close to be ready.”

“Good. I’d really like to see my new hafine.”

“In time, Emir, in time. First comes preparing.”

“Okay, what do I do?”

“The room is almost. Patient is good.”

“I’m patient, Emir. Plenty patient. It is obvious that your traditions for this transaction are different than ours. I was hoping you would explain.”

The village Emir squinted at him, then seemed to parse through his words, his face lighting up. “Of course. Yes. We make your hafine perfect for you. We test them. We test you. We prepare the har to best performance.”

“Best performance?”

“You see. You will like.”

There was a knock on the door and a young woman bowed to the Emir. “Come, the room is.”

“Okay.” John and Ronon followed the Emir into a small white room with an odd looking chair. As he got closer he decided it wasn’t unlike the chair in Atlantis that controlled the drones.

“You to sit. Remove shirt.”

John eyed the chair suspiciously, but unbuckled his P90 and handed it to Ronon before pulling off his vest and jacket, down to his t-shirt. He shivered a little in the cool of the room before pulling the t-shirt off and settling uneasily into the chair. “So what is this?”

“Test, to make har.” John looked at Ronon again and Ronon shrugged minutely.

“Small sting. To sit still please.” A small woman in a blue lab coat said as she approached him. John tensed as she moved to strap down his right hand and had to hold up his left hand to keep Ronon from crossing the room.

Almost before she had strapped his left hand in place, spreading his fingers over the end of the chair arm, a needle pricked into the back of his neck and the room swam for a minute. “Shit.”

Ronon moved closer. John shook his head. “I’m fine.”

The chair hummed under him, tilting back and thousands of tiny fingers moved over his skin. “Is good. Please more to be still.”

John could hear her fussing with equipment and speaking in her own language to her assistant. “Is strong, Emir Colonel. Very unusual strong. This sample make good har.”

“Glad to hear it.” The chair moved back to upright and she released the restraints.

“You may up now. I will prepare har.”

John got up and dressed, then the village Emir was once again escorting them down a long hallway and into a lift that took them up several floors. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t the room that they were led into.

“Whoa.” Ronon muttered as they stopped inside the door.

“You can say that again.” Like a bedroom fit for royalty, the suite was an incredible mix of beauty and functionality, dressed in shades of gold and maroon. There was a table near the huge picture window overlooking the receiving hall and a sunken sitting area of low couches and pillows around a small circular fireplace to the left. To the right a raised dias held a huge bed.

“Is good, yes?” the Emir asked, smiling broadly.

“Is very good.” John answered.

“Until you leave us, for you.” The Emir looked particularly pleased with himself.

“There’s no need, Emir, really. We can stay at the inn.”

“It is for your hafine as well as for you. To comfort transition. I go make check on har.”

As the door closed behind the Emir, John whistled low and started walking through the room. “One bed.” Ronon said, as he climbed the stairs. “Big bed.”

“Maybe there are extra rooms or something.”

Ronon sat on the bed and bounced, then a slow grin broke over his face. “Or something.”

“What?”

Before John could join him on the bed, there was a knock on the door and he turned back to find the small woman from the lab, carrying a case. Behind her the tall man came with two male escorts…and John was going to have to find out their names before he went crazy.

He looked different, the clothes that gave him away as being from Earth were gone and in their place was a pair of gauzy white pants that were slung low on his hips and nothing else.

John licked his lips and looked aside at Ronon. Hips. He shook his head. It was one of the things about Ronon that drove him crazy. The woman smiled and crossed to the table, setting down the case and opening it.

The men escorting John’s new hafine walked him to where the woman put a pillow on the floor, then pushed him to his knees. “Come.” The woman beckoned.

John stopped long enough to drop his gear on the floor by the bed, then approached the woman. He glanced at the man…kid…this close he looked a lot younger than he first assumed. She held out her hands for his and he lifted them slowly. “Which is strong?”

“Strong?” She hefted both hands and he figured she meant dominant. “Oh, this one.” He lifted his right hand and she nodded.

She turned away and held up a filmy strip of something that looked soft and flexible. “For Emir, har-ta, to project.”

Before he could say anything, she was pressing the band to his wrist. It was cool and strange and when she took her hands off of it, it came to life, wiggling against his skin, stretching and moving and then it shrunk tight before slowly melting into the flesh of his wrist. He looked up at her, his eyes wide. He could almost feel it searching around inside him, over nerves and veins and…”Whoa.” A rush of…something ran through him, leaving him dizzy, flushed and vaguely aroused.

Ronon was at his side with a hand on his arm instantly. John felt another rush of arousal at the touch, but held up a hand to hold Ronon off when he growled at the woman. “It’s okay, Ronon, I’m fine.”

“Is good?” The woman asked and John shook his head.

“I wouldn’t say that. You should have warned me.” He could feel it inside him…adjusting, worming it’s way up his arm.

He looked down at the kid waiting on his knees. Those green eyes were wide with what was probably fear. “It’s okay Kid. I’m sure it’s going to be fine.”

John was amused when he crinkled his face at the pejorative, but didn’t have time to respond as she was holding another of the filmy bands. This one was longer, not as wide. “For hafine. You put.” She gestured with it toward the kid, then imitated putting it around her own neck.

He didn’t like that idea, but he took it from her and held it between him and the kid. “Okay…whatever it takes if it gets us out of here. Right?”

He could feel the anger rolling off of him, could see it in his eyes. “Just trust me, Kid. I’m doing the best I can.” He pressed it to the skin around his neck and lifted his hands away. Those green eyes closed and his fists clenched as the film did its thing, morphing and molding itself. John watched in fascination as the collar disappeared under the skin, with hardly an indication it was there. If he didn’t know where it was, he would never find it. The kid swayed a little, then sagged so that his hip was on the floor.

“Is good.” The woman declared. “I go finish har.”

When they were alone, John squatted in front of the kid. “Hey…you okay?”

There was confusion in his eyes, and still a little of the anger, but he nodded slowly. “Ronon, get me something to write with and that pad of paper in my vest.” When he had it in his hand, John held it out. “Tell me your name?”

He swallowed hard, one hand sliding up to where the collar was. John’s eyes went to his own wrist. He wished the kid would trust him. He felt the paper leave his hand and looked up. “Sam?”

He nodded and John smiled. “Good. I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but under the circumstances…” He stood and Sam did as well, although a little shaky. “I already told you I’m John Sheppard. This is my…associate, Ronon Dex.”

Ronon nodded to Sam who took a deep breath and nodded back. Sam scribbled on the paper and held it up. “Where? Oh boy…right to the hard questions?” John paced away and came back. “Where…you’re in the Pegasus galaxy.”

Sam’s face squished up in question and John held up his hands. “Before you ask how you got here, I don’t know. We’ll have a lot of time for that. Do you know if the voice thing is permanent?”

Sam scribbled more and held up the pad and pointed to a spot on the side of his neck. There was a soft green glow like there was something under his skin. . “What does that mean?” John stepped closer. “Until you’ve accepted? Accepted what?”

John exhaled heavily and turned to Ronon before Sam was snapping his fingers at him for attention. He held up the pad. “Where’s Dean?” John read aloud. “Dean? The other guy is Dean?”

Sam nodded. It was obvious there was some serious concern there. “He’ll be here soon. I think.”

Sam dropped the pen, his face filled with pain, drawing John’s attention to the bandage on his arm. “Are you okay?” He moved to reach for it, but Sam pulled back. “Okay…you don’t trust me yet. I get that. But really…I’m only try to help here.”

Sam went to his knees, fishing around for the pen again. He scribbled messily and dropped the pad. John picked it up. “Broken? Okay. We can handle that, as soon as we get back to Atlantis.” John paced a little, staring at his wrist. This whole thing wasn’t as simple as he’d hoped, and he almost wished he’d paid more attention to what Teyla had told him about this…thing. With any luck, Rodney or Carson would be able to remove the technology. The chair looked like the Ancients’, though he didn’t think he’d ever seen Ancient technology do what this did, but it stood to reason that this stuff was similar too. He rubbed his left hand along the wrist, trying to feel it under his skin. He turned to look at Sam, who still seemed a little dazed.

“It’s going to be okay, Sam. I promise.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John Sheppard receives his new "servant"...only things don't go exactly as he expected. Dean Winchester is not a happy man. Sam is trying to be.

Another knock on the door and the woman was back, and with her came Dean, escorted by five men. John stopped and stared. Dean was naked and his skin gleamed. Leather cuffs adorned his wrists and upper arms, thighs and ankles, but nothing else interrupted the view of skin…and muscle. 

Ronon cleared his throat and John dragged his eyes away. Sam was kneeling up, his eyes tracking Dean’s every move. The woman directed the men, who cajoled Dean into moving, standing him beside the table.

“Emir Colonel to come. Har is good. Har is strong.” She held up another of the filmy things and beckoned him with it. 

John exhaled slowly and nodded, then stepped in front of Dean. His eyes flashed with emotion and John tried to look as sincere as possible. “I need you to trust me, just a little longer, okay Dean?” John said as quietly as he could. Those eyes got bigger and John nodded. “Sam told me. It’s okay. I’m just trying to get us all out of here in one piece, okay? They won’t let us just walk out; we have to do this their way. This is gonna feel…funny.”

John lifted the film from the woman’s hands and settled it around Dean’s neck. It did its thing, and Dean swayed on his feet. John reached out a hand to steady him and felt a wave of arousal sweep through him. He gasped a bit and stepped back, but it was obvious he wasn’t alone in the feeling.

“See? Good har,” the woman said, a pleased smile on her face. She held up yet another piece, smaller, shorter.

“What’s that one for?” John asked.

“Har-pe.” She indicated Dean’s groin with her free hand.

“What?”

“To go apeh.” She pointed again and this time it was Dean who reacted, holding up both hands and taking a step back away from John, until two of his escort caught him.

“Okay, let’s everyone calm down.” John said, as much for himself as the rest of the room. He was suddenly aware of Sam beside him, hovering over him. He glanced up and the kid’s face was…distressed, but his eyes were only on Dean. 

Sam raised both hands, stepping between John and Dean, resting his hands on Dean’s shoulders. John could see Dean’s face relax. Sam’s hands slid down Dean’s torso, to his hips and rested there for a minute. John exhaled slowly, hoping the kid could keep him calm, so that they could all get out of there.

Sam was pressing soft kisses to the side of Dean’s neck, which seemed to calm him…then not, judging by the way Dean shoved Sam. Sam wouldn’t be pushed away though, and his hand seemed to soothe Dean as Sam went to his knee, his hand stroking over Dean’s stomach and down to his thighs.

John arched an eyebrow as Dean’s body seemed to respond, his cock hardening a little more, then Sam looked up at John in expectation and John looked down at the filmy piece of technology that was suddenly in his hands. “Okay…when we get back to Atlantis, Rodney will fix everything. It’s going to be fine.” 

He took a step closer, willing Dean to just relax and close his eyes. To John’s surprise, he seemed to do just that. John swallowed and stepped still closer, close enough now. He reached out slowly, sparing a glance at Ronon, who seemed far too amused by the whole show, then at the woman who smiled at him. “Yeah, right. Here goes nothing.”

He settled the film at the base of Dean’s cock, and Sam set one hand on Dean’s back to steady him as it came to life and started its melding process. 

“Is good. Har to first. I come back after. Test. Adjust. Make perfect.” Then the woman was gone, taking the men with her, leaving Sam and Dean and John and Ronon. 

Dean’s eyes were still closed, the ring around his cock taking far longer to mesh into his skin than the others. John found he couldn’t take his eyes off it. He couldn’t deny Dean was…John’s mouth dropped as tiny tendrils rose up out of the cock ring, sliding along the length, up onto his belly, down, under, around…moving along and then under the skin. Dean’s eyes shot open and Sam sat down hard.

Dean’s hands tried to stop them, pinching at his skin, and John saw it on his face the minute they met and invaded his ass. John turned Dean quickly, but there was nothing he could do.

Dean grabbed the wall and held on as the tendrils rippled under his skin, two around his waist and down into his ass, two more up under his cock, lifting and separating his balls and then into him. They moved…rippling in and out…and Dean’s hands clenched into fists…it was almost like they were…

“Hey…you okay? Look at me.”

Dean’s face came up, but his eyes fluttered closed…and that…John knew that look. It was arousal. He reached out, touched Dean’s arm. That was a mistake, the nakedness, the arousal…and the fact that John hadn’t gotten laid in almost a week…he was hard and horny and…

He pulled Dean up and kissed him…it was strange and awkward, but after only a second, Dean’s mouth was open and giving beneath his. Dean fell flush against him, his hard cock pressing against John’s, separated only by John’s clothing. 

It took a minute for John to find himself and he pulled back almost forcibly, as if it was the last thing he wanted to do. “Whoa. That…I – I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

But Dean wasn’t concerned with his apology, his chest heaved and his cock was leaking, his hands cupped around it. 

“I think I do.” Ronon said, coming closer. “I think you’re supposed to…you know?”

“What? No. I can’t…I mean…not that you’re not…attractive…or….what have you…because…well, obviously…”John turned away. 

“You can’t leave him like that.” Ronon said, following John. 

“What do you want me to do, Ronon?” 

“You may have to…you know, relieve the situation.”

John shook his head. As aroused as he was, he wasn’t ready for that. “Maybe…maybe that’s what Sam’s for? You know?” John turned, watching as Sam knelt beside Dean, looking up at him with something like adoration. 

Ronon came to stand beside him, looking over his shoulder. “Maybe you shouldn’t have sent Teyla away.”

“What, you’d want her to see this?”

Ronon shook his head. “Maybe she could explain.”

Sam was looking up at them now, distress clear on his features. Dean was pushing Sam away, but Sam clung to him, even as he looked up at John. “Yeah…Okay…let me…let me look.” John went to stand beside Dean. Dean was nearly biting through his lip and if he had the capacity to speak, John was sure he’d be whimpering. His hands hovered over his cock, but couldn’t seem to touch it. “Okay…how bout…if I just…” 

John licked his lips and reached out to touch him, tentatively, and Dean shuddered as his hand made contact with his dick. John closed his eyes and nodded. “Okay…I can…do this.”

He glanced up at Ronon, then down at Sam. Dean’s hips jerked forward and John felt his own cock respond, pressing against the inside of his boxers uncomfortably. “Shit.” Dean was rocking steadily into his hand now, but didn’t seem any closer to orgasm than he had been when John started. 

“I think he needs more.” Ronon said.

“Thank you for your keen observations, Captain Obvious.” John said. “Okay…let’s…whew…let’s get him over to the bed.” There was no denying his body was capable of doing more. In fact his own cock was nearly as desperate as Dean’s. “I…Dean…you have to know…I didn’t…” How do you tell the man that you just _bought_ that you didn’t really intend for this to happen?

Dean grabbed John’s hand and slapped it behind him, onto Dean’s ass. There was no mistaking the words he mouthed though. “Shut up” and “Fuck me” were all pretty clear. 

John nodded. “Yeah…yeah. Okay…” He stood up and pulled off his shirt, looking around for something to use to ease the way. Ronon pulled open a pocket on John’s vest and tossed him some lube. “I forgot that was there.”

“I didn’t.” Ronon said with a smirk. 

Dean was on the bed, kneeling, his face already pressed to the bedspread. John set the lube on the bed and started to pull his boots off. Sam picked up the lube and squirted some on his fingers, then moved behind Dean as if this was perfectly normal. Dean’s hips rolled as Sam’s fingers moved into him, penetrating him easily and working the lube in, opening him up as John pulled his pants down. John just stared as Sam worked up to three fingers, then pulled out and stepped aside. 

“I’m sorry about this.” John said, even as he was lining up for his first thrust. Dean just grabbed the sheets harder and pushed back.

John couldn’t help but groan as he sank in, and Dean likely would have moaned if he could have. John could feel the vibrations as Dean’s body shook…and then there were the tiny tendrils just under the tender skin, rippling along John’s cock. “Fuck.”

It only took a few seconds for him to forget Ronon and Sam were even there, lost in the heat and tight grip that was Dean. He knew the minute he found the right spot…that deeply buried bundle of nerves. His hand moved around Dean, determined to get them both off now that he’d come this far. Dean’s head came up, back against John’s shoulder as John’s hand circled around his cock, pulling in time to the strokes he made inside Dean with his own cock. “Come on…let’s do this.” John whispered. Okay, not the most romantic…He pulled once more a little harder and that was all it took, Dean was shooting come onto the bed and John was following not far behind. 

Dean sank slowly forward onto the mattress and John pulled back, pulled away. Sam was back on his pillow, kneeling. Ronon was across the room, looking pointedly anywhere but at the bed.

John pulled himself together, zipped up his pants. He crossed to the picture window, looking down into the main hall. “Well, this is not what I had in mind.”

Ronon came to stand over him. “You okay?”

John ran a hand over his face. “I guess I have to be, don’t I? At least until we get out of here, get these things off.” He looked out at the lobby. Judging from the change in light slanting through the big windows it was nearly noon. The truth was, he was far from okay. He’d just bought two slaves. He’d just essentially raped one of them. Worse, he knew he’d do it again. Right that minute even. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

“It was pretty hot.” Ronon whispered. 

John gave him a dirty look, then glanced back at where Dean was slowly sitting up, Sam was beside him, petting over him. “So…I’m guessing these things somehow affect their behavior.” John thought how hot Dean would look on his knees, sucking his cock, and damn if Dean didn’t lick his lips and start to stand. John blew out slowly and looked up at Ronon. He had to get this under control. Before he did more damage.

“That would make sense.”

John was lost for a second, then realized what he meant. “Don’t say I told you so.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

He took a deep breath and figured he should try at least to salvage the situation as much as he could. “Okay…Sam, Dean....” He sighed and held his hands out to his side. “We’re kinda stuck here until my team comes back. They left this morning before we came here. They should be back this afternoon, tomorrow at the latest. Until then, we just have to make the best of this.” 

Dean’s face was a growl John could nearly hear, then Sam was off the bed and scurrying to where the pad of paper and pen had been forgotten. He handed them to Dean. Dean scribbled and held up the paper. “WTF?”

John parsed out what the initials meant then nodded. “As near as we can figure, the…bands are…somehow controlling some of your behavior.” He rubbed his left hand over his right wrist. He could almost feel it responding to him, pulsing lightly. “Now…now…” He held up his hands as Dean stood, fuming. “I’m sure we can get them off. My team has the best resources in two galaxies. Not to mention the ancient database…In the mean time…we just have to stay calm.”

“Calm?” Dean wrote, his face clearly indicating anything but calm. 

“Yes. Calm. Apparently our translation of what was happening was less than accurate. It happens. I’m sorry.” Except that parts of him really weren’t sorry, and that much was evident by the way he was already thinking about what would happen if they couldn’t remove the devices. The image of Dean on his knees came again and before John could say anything, he was. On his knees. In front of John. There was shock on his face, and John imagined his own looked the same. 

Sam was at his side instantly, a hand on his head. John couldn’t help but notice the boy was hard. Which led to totally different images. Ones of Sam on his knees, licking Dean clean…sucking come off his skin…out of his ass…

Ronon cleared his throat and John opened his eyes, not realizing he’d closed them. Ronon’s hand was on John’s back. Hot. Searing. John shook his head and stepped back away from Dean. This was so many kinds of wrong, John was pretty sure they’d have to invent new words for it.

He took a deep breath and willed his mind to steer away from sex all together. They had a problem. They needed to deal with the problem. “Okay. Why don’t you boys…sit on the couch…I’ll sit…over there…and I’ll tell you what I can in the meantime.”

 

Several hours passed with only brief moments of discomfort as John filled Sam and Dean in on the basics of where they found themselves and Dean did his best to explain how he and Sam came to be there, on the pad of paper, exchanging meaningful glances with Sam while they answered questions. John got the impression he wasn’t getting the whole story. 

“Mirror?” John asked, looking at the word on the paper. Dean shrugged. He scribbled some more and held up the pad. “You found a big mirror and you touched it, and ended up in a cave?” John frowned. 

Sam grabbed the paper and the pencil and started to sketch, though Dean tried to take them away, gesturing at Sam’s broken arm. Sam leaned away and kept drawing, though John could see the pain it caused. After a few minutes, Sam had drawn the ornate mirror they’d found…the one that brought them here.

“Is that familiar?” Ronon asked as John frowned.

“Maybe.”

The knock on the door startled all of them and John stood as the woman swept in, all smiles. “Is good?”

John nodded distractedly. “Yeah…we’re fine.”

“I come test har.” She held out a device and gestured for Dean to stand. He looked at John who shrugged. Dean looked annoyed as he stood, still naked…beautiful really. Dean’s eyes wandered toward John as she waved it over him and made a strange sound through her teeth. “Best har. Never this much. Hafine is good for Emir. Very good.”

John inhaled sharply, very aware that Dean was hard. Again. It made the fourth or fifth time in the last few hours. He was also painfully aware that he had about a half dozen ideas about what to do about it.

The woman seemed very pleased with herself as she pressed a finger against her wrist and several men came in bearing food on trays. “Meal to you. Yes. Good. Much good.”

Only moments later she was gone again and John looked from the closed door to Ronon, then to Dean. He shrugged and settled back onto the pile of pillows he’d been sitting on, watching as Sam filled a plate with food and gave it to Dean. Judging from the perplexed look on Dean’s face as he stared at Sam, this wasn’t something Sam did normally.

Sam looked up at him, and kind of cocked his head, then started filling another plate, standing and coming to kneel beside John, holding up the plate in offering.

“Um…thank you?” John said, smiling and looking down at the plate. He was surprised to find Sam had chosen only the local delicacies John actually liked, but more surprised by the flush of pleasure the simple gesture gave him. “But not necessary.”

“I think maybe it is.” Ronon said, directing John’s eyes back to Sam who seemed to be waiting for John.

Sam looked at Ronon, then back at John, a question in his eyes. John shook his head, clasping his free hand to Sam’s shoulder, hoping it was comforting…reassurance. “No. Feed yourself.” John glanced at Ronon with a smile. “Ronon’s a big boy.”

Ronon snorted and reached for a plate and John’s eyes snapped back to Dean’s. He was clearly not pleased as they watched Sam fill a plate for himself and settle to a spot on the floor at Dean’s knee.

Dean stared at Sam’s head, and John figured this behavior was clearly not normal. Sam looked up as he felt eyes, looking at John, Ronon…then up to Dean, his face blushing. 

The quiet got weird, awkward and heavy with a need to do something. But John didn’t want to think about the something they could do. Not when there were cherry-like fruits that looked like they were the perfect size for Dean’s belly button…or that honey stuff…that would look so pretty on his nipples…

John shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “When Teyla and Rodney come back, we’ll get a better explanation, and figure out what we need to do.” John said.

Dean just glared back, one hand falling absent mindedly on Sam’s shoulder.

 

It was getting to be too much. With Dean there, naked, and hard every time John thought the slightest thing about sex. Even if it was about Ronon. John found himself moving as far away from the boys as he could, because the stimulation was going to drive him to…well…things he didn’t want to do, except that he did.

They were asleep now, on the bed. Dean’s head on Sam’s shoulder. John had insisted on giving Sam a pain killer when the kid had tears in his eyes after bumping the arm. Dean had originally crawled in beside Sam to comfort him, but in the end it was Dean who ended up on the receiving end, cradled to Sam’s side.

It had been hours. It would be evening meal soon. John wasn’t looking forward to spending the night here. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop himself. John’s radio gave an indication that his team was returning, a vague crackling sound giving way to Teyla’s voice. “Colonel Sheppard, this is Teyla.”

John reached behind him for the radio, looking up as Sam’s head lifted from the pillow. “Go ahead Teyla.”

“We are in orbit over the planet.”

“Good. We’re guests of the Village Emir. I need you to do some translating.”

“I am certain that Dr. McKay and Major Lorne can handle the delivery. I will make my way into the village as soon as we land.”

John stood, nervous now, because he was beginning to believe that he wasn’t going to like what he’d learn once Teyla began translating. “There. Now…we’ll get to the bottom of this.” Sam stirred, then seemed to realize Dean was curled up next to him and settled back to the bed, his hand holding to Dean’s shoulder.

John swallowed and looked away. Sam had huge hands. He was fairly certain Dean was awake now.

 

Sam watched the goings on around him, half concerned, half convinced he’d gone completely crazy. Dean was unhappy. Sam was acutely aware of how unhappy. He’d always been highly attuned to his brother, but this was something else. Something more. 

He had a vague idea that it had something to do with the collars. The har…the woman had called them that. It had him doing things. The whole thing with the food. It just…felt right. And when Sheppard had smiled Sam had felt pleasure. It was as if his body knew things his mind hadn’t caught on to yet. He had no idea why he knelt beside Dean before, only that it felt good. It felt like where he was supposed to be.

And if he could never take his hands off his brother, he’d be perfectly content the rest of his life.

Colonel Sheppard was near the door with the new comer, a woman he called Teyla and the woman who had brought the har. They were animated, and Shepard was…perplexed, embarrassed even. Sam wasn’t sure how he knew that, but he did, even though he couldn’t hear them. 

Dean was dressed now…after a fashion. Sheppard had insisted he be given clothes. He was in the same gauzy white pants that Sam wore and they’d both been given shirts of the same material and sandals, though neither of them had put them on yet. Sam felt every time Sheppard looked at Dean, felt the rush of arousal that flowed in to Dean.

More than that, he was starting to get impressions of what exactly it was Sheppard was thinking. And it should be disturbing how much that turned him on….should bother him to think of his brother like that…if not because Dean was his brother, than because Dean really didn’t have a say in things.

They sat side by side on the soft couch with the one called Ronon near them. Sam recognized the look, the posture. He was there to protect them, though at this point Sam couldn’t begin to imagine what they’re being protected from.

Sam’s eyes skirted over Ronon. It was actually the Colonel that Ronon was protective over, and that kind of seemed to include him and Dean now. Ronon looked comfortable, relaxed, but Sam could see the difference, understood the way his eyes moved around the room, followed Sheppard’s head. It reminded him of Dean.

He looked to Dean and shook his head lightly. Sheppard had given him something for the pain in his arm and while he’d slept most of it off, it had him a little looser than he probably should be, given the situation. He moved a hand onto Dean’s knee. 

He could feel his brother’s eyes and the questions burning in them. Any other place, Dean would be shoving him away, demanding to know what Sam thought he was doing. But even as Dean stared at him, his body accepted the attention of Sam’s hands, his legs falling open a little.

Of course, Dean wouldn’t be happy, wouldn’t understand. He’d been violated…and Sam had helped, had willingly stepped in to make it easier on him…and touched him in places brother’s don’t touch one another, in ways that brother’s don’t think about…don’t fantasize about…except that Sam had…for years.

They would be leaving soon. Sheppard wanted them dressed. Sam squinted in his direction, but slipped to the floor and reached for Dean’s sandals, lifting one of Dean’s feet. Dean’s hands batted him away and Sam fell back, confused. He watched as Dean fumbled with the unfamiliar shoe, managing to get it secured, more or less while Sam put his own on.

“We’re leaving. Ronon, get our gear.” Sam looked up and the Colonel’s face was red, his lips a tight line. He was upset. He was really upset. And then he was pulling his vest on.

Sheppard was not amused. Dean wasn’t happy. At the moment Ronon and Sam seemed to be the only ones adjusting to this…situation. Dean stood and helped Sam up, his hand resting on the small of Sam’s back in true big brother fashion. 

Sam pulled his shirt on and looked from Dean to Sheppard, then to Teyla as she came toward them.

If Sheppard was unhappy, Teyla was angry, judging just from the look on her face. She paused in front of them, a tight smile on her face. “If you will follow me, Sam, Dean.”

Sam and Dean glanced at Sheppard. He sighed, aggravated, his face pinched in frustration. Sam tried to see past it to see the source of the feeling, but the…link…between them obviously didn’t work that way.

They weren’t going to tell them more, Sam could tell. At least not now. Not here. Dean seethed beside him, but stepped forward when Teyla moved away. Sam fell into step beside him, following Teyla out into the hall and out through the ornate lobby. 

The one called Rodney was leaning against…what Sam supposed they were calling the Jumper. Sam remembered him from that first day, in the tent. The one with the Wranglers, though Sam couldn’t see him in jeans…he seemed more the tweed jacket and loafers type. Another man was sitting on the ramp leading into the vehicle.

“Rodney, Major Lorne, I have brought our guests. This is Sam and this is Dean.” Teyla said with a smile for the boys. “This is Doctor Rodney McKay, and Major Lorne.”

McKay looked nervous, wiping his hands on his legs before holding one of them out. Dean looked at it and very slowly lifted his hand to grasp Rodney’s. “Welcome, I guess. Not the best circumstances of course, but at least no one’s shooting at us.” He smiled and let go of Dean’s hand with a squeeze. “I ah…I realize you’ve been through a lot, but I have a hundred questions. Not the least of which is how you got here? Where’d you come from?”

“Shut up Rodney.” Sheppard said as he swept by and into the ship. “Everybody in. We’re headed home.”

“He’s in a mood.” Rodney said as he followed, and Teyla smiled tightly. “I mean, these are important questions. If they got here, can someone else get back? Sheppard, have you even thought about that?” Rodney followed Sheppard into the jumper…his voice trailing off.

“Please.” She gestured into the ship and Sam felt a wave of fear roll off of Dean. Okay, that was an understatement. Dean looked up, into the blue of the sky, then stepped backward, his body bumping into Sam and for a moment, Sam couldn’t breathe for the fear. His stomach seized up.

He slipped his hand into Dean’s and squeezed. Flying was not ever something Dean was comfortable with. Sam had never realized how bad it was though. He tried to project peace and calm toward him, but wasn’t sure if Dean felt it.

Sheppard’s voice came to them then. “What’s taking so long? I said in the damn jumper!”

Dean’s first steps were still hesitant, but the order was implicit, psychically as well as verbally. Sam saw Dean’s face set with determination and he let go of Sam’s hand before taking three long strides into the jumper. Sam followed, with Ronon bringing up the rear in a bit of a sprint.

Teyla showed them where to sit. Sam watched his brother as the door shut and the jumper shuddered, coming to life. Dean tensed as they lifted off the ground. He’d have been cussing under his breath if he had a voice. Sam reached for his hand, but Dean pulled away. Sweat covered his face and his hands were shaking.

He was freaking out. Sam could feel it, though he still thought that was crazy. They were moving pretty good and Sam’s eyes were pulled to the front as they broke atmosphere. Dean grabbed Sam’s knee, squeezing hard. 

Sam petted down Dean’s arm in a calming motion. This entire thing was too surreal…he wasn’t sure he’d actually believed “other planet”, let alone “other galaxy” but now…now he was forced to consider that either they really were a million light years from everything they knew, or he was having a psychotic break.

Considering that this insanity had handed him one of his fantasies on a silver platter, Sam was forced to give the whole psychotic break idea a certain credence.

Not that he’d ever voiced those fantasies. Dean would never…because brothers just didn’t…Sam looked up at Dean. His green eyes were filled with panic and his grip on Sam’s knee was painful. He wanted to talk to him…to whisper soft words of comfort. Then a thought occurred to him. He should be able to make noises that didn’t come from his vocal chords. “Shhh.”

It startled him and Dean both, and Sheppard turned sharply, before whipping back around to adjust something. 

“Is he okay?” McKay asked, turning in his seat. Sam scowled at him. Of course Dean wasn’t okay, did he look okay? “He doesn’t look okay.” McKay said, looking now to Sheppard. “He’s not going to throw up is he? Cause I can’t be responsible for—“

“Rodney!” Sheppard’s voice was filled with exasperation.

The major touched Sheppard’s arm and pointed back at Dean. Sam couldn’t hear what he said, but got the impression that he was shocked by whatever it was. He got up, which only made Dean’s panic ratchet up a notch or five.

He pried Dean’s fingers loose from his knee and weaved their fingers together, squeezing to let him know it was okay.

“It’s okay. Lorne’s flying.” Sheppard said, breathing deep. “I don’t know how to help, Dean. I get that you’re afraid. But it’s a real short flight, okay?”

Sam shook his head. Sheppard wasn’t beginning to get through. His jaw clenched tight and he glanced at Teyla. “Mayana said that you could affect them, their state of mind.” It was obvious even to Sam that Teyla didn’t like _that_ idea.

John blew out a long breath and closed his eyes. It took a few minutes, but Sam could feel Dean relax. A little. Then a little more. Sheppard’s eyes opened and he leaned forward without touching either of them. “We’ll work on it.”

Sam felt Dean’s hand loosened in his and he nodded at Sam to say he was okay. Sheppard went back to the front, sliding into his seat. “Let them know we’re coming.” Sheppard murmured as he punched buttons on the console between him and Lorne. Sam looked up and out the front, his eyes widening as the circle that hung above the planet lit up and what appeared to be water swooshed through it. It looked like they were heading right for it.

Dean’s hand tightened on his, and his lips were moving, his heart racing. Not like before…but Sam was sure that was Metallica he was mouthing. 

“Colonel Sheppard this is Atlantis.” 

“Sheppard, go ahead Elizabeth.”

“I want to see you as soon as you land.”

“I’m not surprised. I need to see our guests to the infirmary.”

“Carson will meet you in the jumper bay. I want you in my office. Immediately.”

“Yes ma’am.” Sheppard turned to look at them, his eyebrows raising. “I think she’s angry.” He looked at Rodney with an accusation on his face. “What did you tell her?”

“That you were busy buying slaves.” Rodney answered, glancing back at Sam with an apologetic shrug.

“Great.” Then they were moving into the ring…into the…water…and emerging on the other side.

Sam got a brief impression of some sort of control room, then the ship was moving up and away and Sheppard was turning to face them. “Auto-docking. Don’t worry about it. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Ronon snorted and John looked at him pointedly. “When we’re down, I’ll introduce you to our senior doctor. We have the best doctors. He’ll take you down to the infirmary and look you both over…run some tests, take care of your arm. I’ll come get you when I’m done with Dr. Weir.”

Ronon snorted again and stood up. “She sounded pissed. It could take a while.”

“Never mind him.” 

The door opened and Teyla and Lorne preceded the others out. Sam squeezed Dean’s hand and he nodded very stiffly. Sheppard put a hand on Dean’s shoulder, and Sam felt a wave of…need from his brother, accompanied by an image of Sam on his knees and Dean…Sheppard blushed as if he knew that Sam had seen and pulled away. “We’ll find a way. Take care of this, and get you boys home.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Don’t ask if I can fix it, just assume I can.” Rodney said.

“You always do.” John countered.

“You shouldn’t make promises.” Rodney said as he brushed by them. 

John sighed and gestured to the ramp, keeping space between himself and Dean. Sam nodded and stood, drawing Dean with him. Dean didn’t fight or try to pull his hand free, just followed Sam. A small knot of people were waiting for them. “Dr. Carson Beckett, this is Sam.” Sheppard gestured at him. “We think the arm is broken. This here is Dean. They’ve both been fitted with devices that make it so they can’t talk, and these…collars.”

As he said the word, Sam noticed that he could suddenly see Dean’s, like a tattoo around his throat. Sheppard cocked his head and pointed. Sam stared, his good hand rising to his own throat, wondering if his could be seen too. Strange how the thought of it went straight to his cock, even as it made him blush with embarrassment. 

“Yeah…those.” Sheppard looked at his own wrist and it’s tattoo like device. Carson’s fingers ran over it, then he turned his attention to Sam and Dean.

“Welcome to Atlantis, lads.” Beckett said in a Scottish accent, his voice soft and oddly comforting. “I’m sure this is all very confusing for you. Let’s see if we can’t deal with the immediate needs, okay?”

Sam looked to Sheppard who nodded, then to Dean. 

“You boys go. I’ll be along once I’ve explained things to Elizabeth.”

“I’m going to want to see that wrist of yours too, Colonel Sheppard.” Carson said. 

Dean was starting to find his footing again, Sam could tell. He let go of Sam’s hand and nodded in echo of Sheppard. Dean took the lead as they followed Beckett out of the hangar. Sam fell into step behind him, just as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

 

“What were you thinking, John?” Elizabeth asked as the door closed behind him, keeping the rest of his team outside for the moment. “No, scratch that. I don’t want to know.”

John held his hands out in a placating motion. “I couldn’t very well just leave them there, Elizabeth.”

She sat and looked up, some of the fire draining from her face, now that they were back safe and they could deal with it. “You’re sure they’re from Earth?”

“The jeans, t-shirts…Converse sneakers. Kansas, Elizabeth. They’re from Kansas.” He sat and leaned forward. “They were going to be separated and sold, one way or another. If we weren’t there, we would never have known.”

“How did they get here?”

John shook his head, then pulled a piece of paper out of his vest. “Sam drew this. From what I got, they found it and it brought them here.” 

Elizabeth took the picture and held it up, squinting at it. “Is this what I think it is?”

John shrugged. “Their description sounded like a quantum mirror. That they found.”

“Found?” 

John sighed. “We won’t get more info until they get their voices back.”

“I get the impression that there’s information here you aren’t telling me.”

“If we’re done with the yelling at me part of the debriefing, I’d like to get Teyla and Rodney in on the conversation.”

She nodded and beckoned them in. “So we’re believing that this…” she held up the picture of the mirror, “is what brought them to Pegasus?”

“According to Dean, they found a large mirror in a warehouse. He touched it while Sam was touching his back. Then they were in the cave, which is where Sam fell.”

Rodney picked up the paper. “Is this…” He frowned at it, then shrugged. “It could be a quantum mirror…but, they tend to cross dimensions, not galaxies. Although Carter had some interesting theories…totally unexplored…”

“Rodney?” He looked up and shrugged. 

“I’d need to see it.”

“Well that’s not going to happen.” John said, looking to Teyla for confirmation. 

“No, it is not.” She turned to Elizabeth. “The cave is in a forbidden region. It is guarded and inaccessible. It has been so for generations.”

John’s knee bounced nervously. “It’s probably a cache of ancient technology.” John said, standing, pacing. He needed to go. Needed to…be with Dean. “I should get back to them. They’re probably flipping out. And Rodney, I need you to figure out the damn…collars.” John’s left hand wrapped around his right wrist and caressed over it. 

“Collars?” Elizabeth stood and John blushed, his heart racing. He wasn’t ready for her to know all the messy details. He looked up at Ronon…almost groaning when the big man licked his lips. 

“Yeah…It was the strangest thing. They called them…har.” John held up his hand and his wrist darkened, showing the outline of the device. “They absorb into the skin. I…don’t know. We haven’t figured the whole thing out yet.”

Elizabeth grabbed his hand and ran a finger over the wrist. “You let them put this thing on you without knowing what it was?” 

“I’m afraid that part is my fault, Dr. Weir.” Teyla said. “My translation of this…device was incomplete at best. I did not understand the har, and what it would do. To the best of my ability to understand, the har is…purpose.”

She stood to join them, crossing her arms. “The Sagare, as a people, have no penal system. All criminal behavior is seen as a need. The person who violates their law is then…tested and given a purpose…the har…and sold to serve the community by fulfilling their har.”

“And what is the purpose assigned these two?” Elizabeth asked, looking at John.

John blushed. “Ah. Yeah. Dean is…well my personal…assistant.”

Ronon cleared his throat and John glared at him with raised eyebrows. It was bad enough that Teyla knew exactly what that meant. He wasn’t ready for Elizabeth or for that matter, Rodney, to know. “Sam…I’m not sure I get the whole thing, but he takes care of Dean.”

“I don’t like this John.”

“That makes two of us Elizabeth, but I had to get them out of there before they sold them off to someone else, and I didn’t think we needed more enemies.”

“So you bought them.”

John inhaled deeply and drew himself up. “No. I traded medical supplies for their freedom.”

Rodney snorted. “Some freedom.”

“We’ll figure it out.” John said, turning his frustrated glare on the scientist.

“You mean I will.” Rodney crossed his arms and muttered something about the price of being brilliant.

“Yeah. You. So get busy.” John licked his lips nervously. “I mean…you can, right? You can fix it?”

“I don’t know, Colonel.” Rodney was already reaching for his laptop though. “I’ll need to see Carson’s report on the devices…and I’ll check the Ancient’s database, see if I can find something.” He started typing, then looked up. “It’s going to take a while.”

“Okay. John, you go to the infirmary and have Carson check you over. Rodney—“

“Colonel Sheppard.” Carson’s voice cut in over the communications system.

“Yeah, Carson?”

“I think you better get down here right away.”

“Is everything okay?”

“No…hurry.”

“On my way.” He tossed an apologetic look at Elizabeth and bolted from the room, headed toward the infirmary at a run with Ronon and Elizabeth on his tail. He flew into the room and came to a dead stop as Carson came toward him. “Carson?”

“I can’t explain it.” Carson glanced aside at the instrument his nurse was holding and nodded. “He was just fine, then he collapsed. Now he’s fine again.” He rubbed at the back of his neck and turned to an approaching doctor, taking the chart from her. “It makes no sense.”

John pushed past Carson, drawn to where Dean was laying on a bed. His face was pale, a little green around the edges…looked like he would be sick at any moment, but as John came closer Dean’s coloring improved. “You okay?”

Dean nodded. John glanced at Sam in the next bed. He seemed to be fine, other than an obvious concern for Dean. A nurse was unwrapping his arm and he winced. “So…whatever this was, it was just Dean?” 

Carson nodded, looking up at Elizabeth. John looked her way too, but his concern was all for Dean. He stepped even closer to the bed and Dean sat up, squinting at John. He reached out and put a hand on Dean’s shoulder in reassurance.

“How you feeling now?”

Dean rolled his eyes, pissy attitude back in place, then his eyes snapped to Elizabeth, a question in their green depths. “Oh, yeah. Dean, Sam…this is Dr. Elizabeth Weir.”

Elizabeth stepped closer and held out her hand. “Welcome to Atlantis. John.” Her eyebrow was raised nearly off her face as she stepped back. John squeezed Dean’s shoulder and followed her over to Carson. 

“I’ve only just started my examination, but the young man has a pretty severe break in the arm and a sizeable concussion. I’m going to want to keep him here at least overnight.”

“What about the other stuff, the collars?” John asked, hands on his hips

“I haven’t started. Give me a few hours with them.”

“What about John?” Elizabeth asked, concern coloring her face.

Carson reached for the wrist. “Aye, I’ll need to examine this too. Is it affecting your behavior at all?”

John blushed a little, but he wasn’t going to tell Carson that he thought it was making him extraordinarily horny, especially not in front of Elizabeth. “Other than the fact that it seems to transfer thoughts about things I need to them?” John asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

“Aye, other than that.”

“No.”

“Then I’ll start with them. We’re going to have to set that arm. Whoever treated him didn’t do a very good job.”

John shook his head. “I don’t think they were concerned with it healing. From what Teyla said, they didn’t expect him to live long.”

Carson frowned at him. “Why do you say that?”

John shrugged and looked at Elizabeth, then noticed that Ronon was standing next to Dean’s bed. Dean looked irritated. Pissed. “I don’t know. I don’t think they elaborated.”

Dean was snapping his fingers at them and John went to him. Dean pointed sharply at Sam. “What?” John asked, then sighed, fishing out the pad of paper and handing it to Dean.

“Is Sam okay?” John looked over his shoulder at Carson, then nodded. “I’m sure he’s fine, Dean. I know this is frustrating.”

Dean scribbled on the pad. “Just be patient. Carson’s doing his best. I’m sure this will be over soon.” He wasn’t actually sure of anything…other than the fact that he was really horny. He wanted to drag Ronon into the quarantine room and…Dean grabbed his arm and John blinked. “Oh. Sorry.”

“What about their voices, Carson?” Elizabeth asked as they approached. 

“I don’t know yet. I was going to start my examination of Dean when he collapsed.”

“I’d like to be able to talk with them about how they got here, soon.”

“Aye, Elizabeth. Colonel Sheppard, I suggest you get comfortable.”

John sighed and started removing his vest. They needed to find rooms for them, get them settled in, get them some clothes. Figure out their next move. John was not looking forward to explaining to anyone exactly what sort of assistant Dean was meant to be. Or that he had…fucked him. Or that he totally wanted to again. He could almost feel Dean’s skin under his hands, and his cock was stirring at the sensation. 

If he closed his eyes he could feel Dean’s hands on his skin, his lips on his cock. “Damn.” John groaned and turned away, hiding his instant erection behind his vest. 

“John?” Elizabeth pressed closer, her concern almost palpable.

“I’m okay, Elizabeth. Just…tired.” 

Dean chuckled soundlessly. John could feel it. At least he made the guy feel better. 

“I’ll leave you to it.” Elizabeth said, though the look on her face said that she didn’t buy it. “Keep me informed, Carson.”

“Always, Elizabeth. As soon as I have something.”

John groaned again. “I…I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?” Carson called.

John grabbed Ronon by the arm. “Bathroom. Be right back.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Dean try to adjust to this new life, and John and Ronon try to help. There is sex involved...and Sam has a confession for his brother.

“I think we have everything we need, and I’m sure the three of them will be more comfortable with a little privacy.” Carson said aside to Elizabeth. “The tests will take a few days, and we can call them back if we need anything.”

Elizabeth watched John playing a card game with Dean while Sam watched. “You’re sure they’re okay?”

Carson sighed. “Well, Sam’s the worse for wear, I’d say. But he’s a tough lad if the number of scars on his body is any indication. He’s a little worn down, slightly anemic. Neither of them are particularly well fed. But, we’ve put a cast on the arm and given him something for the pain.”

“And the…collars?”

Again, Carson sighed. “I don’t know. They…we have to learn a lot more before I can make a determination.”

“Okay, release them, but I’m putting John on restricted duty until we know more.”

“Aye, I was going to suggest that. It seems the connection between them requires a certain proximity.”

Elizabeth turned to look at him, her eyebrow arching. “Oh? And you’re just now mentioning this?”

Carson rubbed his forehead. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth. I thought Colonel Sheppard said something. Dean is linked to Colonel Sheppard and the link seems to be dependent on distance and duration. Sam is likewise, linked to Dean.”

“So all three have to be together?”

“Aye. There’s some indication that it is also a tool of the acclimation period, like the voices. Today the distance permitted before Dean passed out is significantly improved over yesterday.”

“Any progress on the voices?”

Carson shook his head. “Sam seems to be more capable of expressing himself without his voice, and adapting fairly quickly.”

“Yes, but adapting to what, exactly?” Elizabeth said, moving closer to the window.

 

Ronon was silent, nearly forgotten. He’d taken up station at the door when John went into the next room with Carson and Elizabeth, part to protect Sam and Dean from the already curious people in the hallways outside the protected space, and part because he needed to know something. 

Without John in the room the two of them seemed more inclined to what Ronon had to believe was more normal interaction. Dean was still not happy, and expressed his discontent fairly well to Sam, even without words. Sam, on the other hand…Sam seemed…like Dean was his entire world.

John had brought them clothes, scavenged from expedition members. Except that Sam was taller than just about anyone on Atlantis, and every pair of pants John found were too short, so he was wearing a pair of Ronon’s pants, heavily belted to keep them up. He stood beside Dean’s bed, the broken arm in a sling across his chest, his left hand on Dean’s shoulder. 

Alien technology or not, Sam was absolutely devoted. And, alien technology or not, Dean loved him too. Ronon had no doubt about that. It might make this whole messed up thing actually work.

Maybe. If Sheppard could get past his denial. It was obvious, at least to him, that the devices were doing a lot more than transferring John’s desire, because Ronon had never seen him lose control the way he had twice now …and if the way Dean passed out when the proximity barrier was crossed was any indication, not obeying the amped up sexuality for any length of time might actually be more harmful than giving in to it, at least in the short term.

 

“Okay, so I was going to get you both your own rooms, but with the whole passing out thing, I figured we’d be safer if you just bunked with me for a few days.” John said as he led Sam and Dean toward his room. “I had an extra bed brought in, and this will give us some time to get to know one another.”

“You mean fuck.” Ronon’s voice said from behind them and all three whirled.

John shook his head. “No, Ronon. I don’t. I mean, work on getting their voices back, figure out ways around this…situation.”

The door closed behind Ronon and he leaned down to John’s ear. “And fuck.” John’s cock stirred and he rolled his eyes as Dean threw up his hands. 

“Stop.”

It wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t stop thinking about it. At least, that’s what he told himself. “Don’t listen to him. It’s not my reason.”

Sam held his hands up, placating John and Dean both. Dean paced away and Sam went with him, both going to the wide picture windows. John couldn’t even get excited about showing them Atlantis, because all he could think about was the way, Sam’s hand soothed over Dean’s back, wanting it to follow the curve of his ass.

He licked his lips when Sam’s hand did just that, and Ronon’s hand was waving in front of his face. He blinked and looked up. “What?”

Ronon chuckled. “Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

John sighed and turned his back on Sam and Dean. “Cut me some slack here.” 

Ronon crossed his arms and looked down at him. “I’m not the one fighting this, you are.”

“What?”

Ronon turned him back around to look at Sam and Dean. “Right now, you’re the only thing they have going for them. They’re alone. They have alien devices in their bodies that make them want to…do things that you’re thinking about. You’re going to make them crazy. I can’t help but think that maybe it would be easier on them, and you, if you …let nature take its course.”

“It isn’t nature, Ronon.” John said shaking his head.

Ronon conceded the point, watching Sam’s good arm slide around Dean’s hip and pull him closer. “Doesn’t change the fact that those devices give them a purpose…and a need to fulfill that purpose. What if…they **have** to?”

“What?” John scowled at him. “No. It’s out of the question.”

“Is it? Are you sure?” Ronon lifted an eyebrow. “Try something for me.”

John crossed his arms. “What?”

“Think of Dean, without thinking about sex…think about how upset he is, how worried.”

“What? Why?” 

“Just trust me. I want you to see something.”

But he was already there, thinking about the terror that had rolled off Dean in the jumper. Sam moved behind Dean, arms around his waist, sighing a little as he put his head on Dean’s shoulder. John felt Ronon’s arms slide around his waist in an obvious echo.

“See…natural as can be.” Dean hadn’t moved to shake him off, hadn’t even turned. “They love one another John…and maybe they never had this sexual component to it before, but doesn’t most Ancient technology work with what’s already there?”

Sam was kissing the back of Dean’s neck, and Ronon followed suit, kissing over John’s neck.

“Yeah…but we don’t even know if it is Ancient.”

“Shh.” Ronon whispered in his ear. “You’re thinking to much.” He sucked a little on the side of his neck, just as Sam did the same…and John wasn’t’ sure who was mimicking who anymore, but it was hot and the idea of matching pairs, licking and sucking was beginning to make him crazy. He turned in the circle of Ronon’s arms and out of the corner of his eye, saw Dean do the same. 

“You know what I’m thinking now?” John asked, looking up at Ronon. 

Ronon’s eyes flicked to Dean, who was melting into a scorching kiss. “I’ve got a pretty good idea.” Ronon’s lips settled over John’s.

John closed his eyes, imagining Sam undressing Dean, savoring the taste of Ronon’s tongue running over his…then feeling hands unzipping his jacket and pushing it to the floor. He heard a matching sound nearer the windows, but didn’t look…just held the thought in his head…Sam, kissing over Dean’s bare shoulders, licking at each tiny mark and scar.

Ronon groaned and John felt him move around behind him, still mimicking every move Sam made. “You should open your eyes.” Ronon whispered and John let them slowly open.

John’s cock was hard instantly at the sight. Dean was shirtless, facing him. Sam was behind him, his mouth pressed to skin…absolutely lost in the task of worshipping Dean’s skin. Dean’s eyes opened and rose to meet John’s. The green was shot through with lust and anger and need.

Sam’s hands came around from behind, running up Dean’s torso, until they covered Dean’s nipples, rubbing in soft circles. _Naked_ …John was overwhelmed by the desire to see Dean as he’d been when he was brought to them, naked and gleaming and perfect…sex on legs….Ronon’s hands were on his hips, matching Sam’s…then down to his fly…and his pants were puddled at his feet.

Dean’s hardness matched his own, and John couldn’t resist moving forward, crossing the room, even as Dean moved to meet him. They crashed together, the four of them. John’s hands cupped around Dean’s face as they kissed, all hard lips and teeth. John tasted blood and couldn’t tell if it was his own or Dean’s. Their cocks danced against each other as Ronon and Sam worked open mouths down their spines, then tongues were circling their asses and John moaned for both of them.

John’s cock was dripping pre-come and he wasn’t going to be able to hold on for long, not with the pictures in his head…not with the burning touch of Dean’s skin under his, or the smoldering heat in Sam’s eyes. As John met those eyes he was filled with a sense of what Sam wanted…a desire he’d never expressed…John reached over Dean’s shoulder for Sam, dragging his head close enough to kiss him. A sense of surprise rippled through Sam, but his mouth opened under John’s and the image got stronger.

“Bed.” John said, holding that image as the four of them moved toward the nearer of the two beds, though they had to disentangle to make it work. Then, Sam and Ronon were pulling off their clothes and Sam was the first one on the bed, kneeling and bent over, his naked ass in Dean’s hands.

Ronon fetched a bottle of lube before he joined him, handing the lube off to John, before he climbed up, mirroring Sam’s position, filling John with a wonder he didn’t want to contemplate too much. Ronon seldom offered himself up like that… _Kiss._

Sam’s hand was on Ronon’s face…Ronon’s hand was in Sam’s hair, then their mouths met in a bruising kiss. John groaned and opened the bottle of lube, pouring some out onto his fingers before passing it to Dean. Those green eyes were darker now, the desire stronger, his cock red and hard.

John sensed some resistance, but it fell away as Dean’s hands touched Sam and Sam shivered with anticipation. John licked his lips as Dean’s fingers touched Sam’s ass, moving closer to his hole, shimmering with lube. Sam gasped without sound as Dean’s finger penetrated, and Ronon captured his mouth again as John did the same.

John froze as Dean moved, caught watching as Sam arched his back in response to the fingers now moving inside him. Ronon pushed back at him, anxious for similar treatment, but John could scarcely breath as Dean’s fingers slipped out of Sam and his cock, slick now and leaking steadily, lined up. Dean’s eyes were on Sam. Only Sam. He bit his lip as he started to sink into him.

Ronon pushed at him again and John remembered what he’d been doing, scissoring the two fingers he had inside Ronon to open him, up before shifting his feet and rising on the balls of his feet to follow Dean’s lead. “Fuck.” Ronon was tight…hot…incredible. John ran his hand up his back, over scars and into the tangle of dreadlocks he found incredibly hot. 

He fisted his hand there and held on as Ronon’s head turned, his mouth opening to claim Sam’s again. It was messy…wet, tongues, teeth…Ronon growled as Sam’s teeth caught on his lip and Sam responded by sucking that lip into his mouth. John pulled on Ronon’s shoulder, pulling him from Sam, pulling him back onto his cock. It took scarcely a thought to get Sam’s hand on Ronon’s cock…and Ronon echoed the motion just as quickly…and John was ready to completely short circuit.

Sam’s face was slack, open, wanton. Behind him Dean’s was all concentration, eyes focused on Sam’s neck, his hands on Sam’s hips. The smell of sweat filled the air and when Ronon’s head fell back on his shoulder, John lost his control, shooting hot into Ronon, then reaching around to help Sam bring Ronon along. 

Sam was next, his mouth open, as he came all over Ronon’s hand. He dropped his face forward and tilted his hips. Dean grimaced, then stiffened…and fell forward onto Sam, panting.

Ronon was the first to move, crawling up toward pillows and pulling John with him. After only a slight hesitation, Sam followed, bringing Dean along. John got a very definite sense of satisfaction from Sam as they settled into a tangled pile of naked limbs and torsos. Sated, John let sleep come, not sure whose hand was where, and not entirely sure he cared.

 

Sam woke to the very urgent need of his bladder. Memory of the night before rushed in as he tried to identify the weight against him, and he blushed from his toes up. He opened his eyes slowly. Most of the weight was Dean, draped half way across Sam’s body. Sam flushed with a different sort of warmth as he realized they were both still naked…and that sticky ache in his ass was his brother’s come. Because his brother had come in his ass.

Sam moved his head, which was pillowed on Ronon’s shoulder. Somehow he doubted Ronon was any more of a cuddler than Dean was. The hand on his hip came from up over Ronon’s hip. Any lower and his morning erection would be sitting in Sheppard’s hand. 

He still had to pee though. Down the bed, that was likely the easiest way. Sam gently moved John’s hand onto Ronon’s stomach, then looked to see how best to get free of Dean. It took some delicate maneuvering, but Sam managed, shimmying down the bed to the end.

Sheppard hadn’t gotten around to showing them where stuff was, what with the frantic fucking…and middle of the night blow jobs…and wet dreams…Sam shook his head and tried to get his bearings in the half light of a very early morning. He stood, surprised at the ache in his body, the burn in his ass.

He stumbled around the suite for a bit before he found the bathroom. He wanted a shower…but pee was becoming even more urgent than it was when he woke.

He groaned as he relieved himself, then froze. “What the—“

His voice. His voice was back. His wonder was lost to the need to finish and the sudden screaming pain as something decidedly not liquid forced its way out and fell with a small thunk into the toilet. A tiny green light blinked up at him, and his hand flew to his neck. The gadget that had kept his voice at bay was gone. 

Sam squinted at himself in the mirror. Of course, he’d gotten what he wanted…what he’d wanted for a long time, but had never dreamed could ever happen. Of course, his body had accepted its new role. And the technology had done as the Emir person had said it would. 

He bit his lip. Dean was going to freak. The only thing keeping him from going ape shit already was Sheppard and his…thoughts. Sam was going to have to work to make Dean realize the truth. Sam rolled his eyes. The truth that Sam really did want…him.

He could hear movement in the next room, could feel a rush of panic. Dean was awake. Sam stepped out into the main room, where Dean could see him. Relief washed over him, then Sam was beckoning Dean, and Dean looked grouchy and stiff as he pulled himself up and out of the bed.

Sam waited until Dean was in the room and the door was closed. He held up his hands and Dean mouthed, “What?”

Sam wasn’t sure where to start. “Okay…don’t freak out.”

Dean’s eyes bugged and his hands grabbed at Sam, turning his head to look for the light under his skin that indicated the device. There was a mix of emotions flowing off of Dean, so fast Sam couldn’t keep track of them all. “Stop, Dean. I can’t…I can’t follow it all.”

Dean fixed that. He poked Sam in the shoulder, hard. His face was even harder, angry. Okay angry. Sam expected that. “I don’t know. It just…came out.” 

But he knew what it meant, they both did. Sam had accepted this fucked up new reality. Accepted that his brother was a sex toy for some Air Force Colonel and Sam was his…groomer. Accepted that his job was to help his brother serve his master. Accepted that his brother had fucked his ass…Sam met his eyes. A wave of memory passed through Dean and Sam blushed. 

_Dean liked it…the sight of Sam and Ronon together, kissing…tongues and teeth and…_

Dean shook his head, turning away to take care of his own morning piss. Sam could see him mouthing the same word over and over. “No.”

“Okay…look…there’s something I should have told you.” Sam said. Dean finished with no thunk. The little green light was still firmly in place under the skin. “I never…it was just…” He sighed in frustration with himself. “I’ve wanted that for a long time Dean.”

Dean shook his head, denying the very idea. Sam nodded. He grabbed his brother’s hand. His heart was thundering in his chest. He’d never have admitted this, never…because he knew Dean would never have understood. “I never said anything. I knew…it’s wrong, and I get that. Okay? I just…god, Dean.” Sam stepped closer, his hand rising to touch Dean, but he slapped it away. 

Dean turned so his back was to Sam, still shaking his head, his fists clenched at his sides. He was furious…Sam shrank back and thought about leaving Dean to cool off…He shouldn’t have said anything. It only made things worse. “I’m sorry.”

The tone of the anger changed and Dean turned back, making a face at him. Sam flushed and tried to reach for him again. Again, Dean pushed the hand away. Sam knew that face, Dean was blaming himself. Somehow he did this.

Sam tried again. On the fourth try, his hand connected with Dean’s cheek. Sam took a deep breath and leaned in to kiss him, hoping his desire was reaching his brother. Dean stiffened, but didn’t entirely pull away.

“I love you Dean. More than I should…I…I used to lay in bed at night and listen to you…wanted to tell you…wanted to wrap my hand around you…” Sam kissed him again, a little more urgently, his tongue begging entrance Dean wasn’t giving him. “It’s always been you…ever since I can remember. You were my first crush Dean…the only one I’ve ever thought about when I masturbate.”

Dean pushed on him, forcing him back a step. He pointed forcefully at Sam’s neck, where the collar was. Images flashed at him, the collar, Sheppard…Sam shook his head. “No. Dean. No. I was sixteen the first time. Remember that hunt, the poltergeist knocked me down the stairs? I was busy watching your ass and thinking about sucking on your cock.”

Dean tried to turn away again, but Sam reached out for him. “I got myself off in the bathroom while you and Dad fought about my being on the hunt at all. All I could think about was the way you called my name when you came running.”

Dean pushed again, and Sam dropped his gaze. Sam was filled with a sadness at the rejection, crossing his arms as hot tears filled his eyes. He wasn’t going to cry. Dean would never understand. “Don’t be mad.” 

Dean’s hand closed around the back of his neck and pulled him into a hug that clearly said “Not mad” and Sam felt a little relief. When Dean let him go he didn’t look any less disturbed however. Sam bit his lower lip and wondered if Dean was ever going to let go enough to get his voice back. 

“Okay. Look, Dean. I know it’s hard…and this is…fucked up. But…we’re together, right? And Sheppard seems like a nice enough guy. He’s trying. He really is.”

The look on Dean’s face was pissed and he shook his head indicating he wasn’t so sure Sheppard was trying all that hard. Sam smiled softly and cupped his good hand to his brother’s cheek. “Well, it’s gotta be hard on him. I mean look at you…so…perfect…so pretty….even I can’t stop thinking about you.” Sam slipped in closer, kissing Dean softly and for a long moment, Dean let him, sagging lightly into him. 

“We can handle this Dean…we can do this…and be okay…they never have to know…” Sam kissed his way back to Dean’s ear. “I can feel you, you know that? I can feel what my touch does to you.”

Dean shuddered and pulled away, but that only enforced Sam’s point, as his cock was already hardening. “See?” Sam whispered and pulled him in close again. This time he didn’t accept Dean’s denial, pushing his tongue past his lips and kissing him urgently. 

In the next room there were murmurings, soft voices that indicated Sheppard and Ronon were awake. Sam felt a rush of arousal flow through Dean, and a rush of images from the night before…as Sheppard had seen them. Dean moaned soundlessly into Sam’s mouth as the images echoed…intensified…and morphed to others…no longer memories…just desires. “He wants you.” Sam whispered a few seconds later. “Wants to fuck you. He dreamed about it all night…”

“Hey, you two okay in there?” Sheppard called and Sam felt Dean shiver at the sound of his voice. Whether or not Dean wanted to admit it, there was attraction there that had little to do with the collar…or at least that’s what Sam told himself as he opened the door.

“We’re fine.” Sam said, without thinking. Sheppard’s eyes got big…and then he grinned broadly. 

“You got your voice back.” 

Sam shrugged. “Apparently.” 

“That’s great. Dean?”

Dean was behind Sam now, and he could feel him glowering at Sheppard. “Not so much.”

Sheppard nodded. “Oh…well…”

Sam’s eyes were drawn to John’s cock…hard with morning wood, and he felt an echo from Dean…a sudden urge to kneel and suck it in. John moaned and Sam felt Dean square his shoulders, pushing his way out of the doorway and away from the two of them.

“I…was going to get cleaned up.” Sam said. Across the room, Sam could feel his brother almost physically fighting the needs coming from John, then sighed when he the images of what John wanted, if not the desire itself, stopped. The look on John’s face was sour, focused. It was almost painful. “I could…” Sam gestured at John’s cock and John blushed.

“No…” He cleared his throat, crossed his arms, then uncrossed them and covered his dick instead. “No…you…go get cleaned up. I’m good.”

Ronon sighed explosively and Sam looked at him. He’d nearly forgotten the big guy was there. The look on his face said that he knew John was anything but good. 

“When you’re done, Ronon and I thought we’d all go have breakfast and then show you around Atlantis, maybe round up a little more in the way of clothing.”

“What about…” Sam pointed at his neck and made a face. 

John nodded. “Rodney and Teyla are headed back to talk to the Sagare today to question them some more on the technology. Carson will let us know when he finds anything.”

“Okay.” Sam’s eyes tracked Dean across the room, pulling on his borrowed clothing and keeping his back to the others in the room. “Dean…he just needs…time. He’s not used to being…” Sam looked for the word and didn’t really find it. “He’s a hunter, a fighter. This is hard.”

John looked over his shoulder at Dean and nodded. “I get that. But…” He looked back at Sam. “I’m not wrong about the two of you, right?”

Sam swallowed hard. “What do you mean?”

“Well…you’re more than just friends, right? I’m not…I didn’t…”

Sam shook his head, a little relieved. “Yeah…more than friends. Though, to be honest, I’ve never crossed that line before now.” That much was truthful. They were more than friends, and they had never…Sam shook his head. He knew what John was getting at. “You didn’t force anything on us.”

John didn’t look entirely relieved but he nodded. “Okay…you get cleaned up then, we’ll get some food when you’re done.”

 

Dean let himself out onto the balcony overlooking the ocean. He had to admit it was an impressive sight. He just wasn’t in the frame of mind to appreciate it. Not when Sam…was beyond okay with what had happened.

Dean hung his head and looked down at the water below him. He had fucked his baby brother. He had _wanted_ to fuck his baby brother. Once the image had come from Sheppard, he couldn’t get it out of his head. 

Of course it was the damn collars. It had to be, no matter what Sam tried to tell him…because it was wrong. It was beyond wrong. It wasn’t even that he’d never had the thought…because…if he was honest, all those years on the road, all those years being crammed together…it was inevitable…and Sam was a good looking guy…and he had a smile that could melt the sun….

Dean swallowed and shook off the sudden desire to feel Sam’s hands on his back, around his waist. He stood up and looked at the sky…looking up into that vast expanse, it was hard to believe they weren’t on earth. 

Dr. Weir had said they could find a way to get them home. Home. Like that meant anything. He turned, leaning against the rail to watch Sam emerge from the bathroom. Maybe this place wasn’t ideal…and maybe this situation was fucked up…but Dean had to wonder if maybe Sam was finally safe here. 

Maybe they could finally give up hunting and Sam could have…Dean shook his head. He couldn’t say normal…because this wasn’t normal. 

Inside the room, Sam smiled at something Ronon was saying as he pulled a shirt on over his bare chest. He hadn’t seen an honest smile in so long…since before their father…Dean lowered his eyes and sighed. John Winchester left a burden on Dean’s shoulders. A burden that he’d shouldered without saying anything to Sam. 

Now though…the yellow eyed demon was in another galaxy. With his plans and his war…and Sam was here. Free.

Well, aside from the whole slave thing. He felt eyes on him and looked up. Sam’s smile was gone, his face serious and concerned. Shit. Sam could feel everything…he breathed out and buried the fear, the words their father had whispered in his ear…all of the crap from back home. Because it didn’t matter now. Dean offered Sam a brief smile, and nodded. Sam was happy. That should mean something.

Dean hoped it would.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam discovers that keeping secrets isn't easy on Atlantis. Dean discovers he has needs. Ronon makes a few discoveries of his own. And there is sex.

“It really is quite incredible.” Sam said, looking out over the city from the balcony. Dean was beside him, but had his back to the view, watching Ronon and John instead. Sam could sense his unease.

“It really is.” John said, moving to stand beside him. 

They’d spent the morning wandering the city, though John had specifically steered them from meeting anyone they hadn’t already met. The idea that this was Atlantis…the Atlantis of legend, that it was real, and that the reason it had disappeared was because it had left Earth…it was overwhelming. 

“So, listen. We need to head back down to the infirmary. Carson just called and there are test results he wants to talk about.”

Sam stiffened and turned his back on the expanse of water, his hand unconsciously closing over Dean’s.

“And, I figured we should talk first.” John was uncomfortable. Sweating. Sam had a sudden urge to take his hand as well. “See, we haven’t told anyone exactly what…this is about.” He made a gesture with his hands that kind of included him and Dean.

“And you don’t want anyone to know.” Sam said. 

“It’s…not like it’s anyone business other than us, right?” John shifted, glancing back at Ronon who was standing against the wall, his arms crossed. “No one really knows about me and Ronon either. Not exactly military protocol, you know?”

Sam grinned. Somehow it relieved him to know that he and Dean weren’t the only ones keeping secrets. “We understand.” Sam said with a nod. “No worries.”

John grinned, relief washing over him as well. “Good. Then let’s go see what the good doctor has for us.”

 

*~*~*

“I haven’t completed all of the tests.” Carson opened with as they were all seated around a conference table. “However, I thought that some of what I’ve found could be important.” He licked his lips and paced a little. “First, the technology implanted in the three of you is not exactly Ancient…but it is based on an Ancient design.” He touched a remote and the computer screen beside him lit up. “Rodney found this before he and Teyla left.”

On the screen was a schematic of something that looked a lot like the collars. “It was developed to curb criminal tendencies.” Carson said. “Though, the devices you’re wearing are quite advanced from these. It would appear that this was the inspiration.”

Carson sighed and looked up at them, his eyes dancing from Sam’s to Dean’s and off to Elizabeth’s. “So far I’ve found no way to remove them. In fact, in Dean’s case, the device is so entwined with his body, I’m not sure that removing it will be wise.”

“I’m sure Rodney will bring back more information.” John said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Unconsciously, Dean reached for his thigh under the table, rubbing a gentle hand along his inseam. John cleared his throat. “What else, Carson?”

“Oh, yes. Both of them have the ATA gene. Sam here has the highest concentration of it I’ve ever seen.” Carson looked at Sam, his eyes narrowing, then he looked away. “Both of them are fairly healthy, though there are some anomalies on Sam’s blood work. I’ll want to draw fresh samples to double check the results.”

“What sorts of anomalies?” Elizabeth asked.

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. There’s a protein marker in his blood work I’ve never seen before. I just want to double check it.”

“Anything else we should know, Doc?” John asked. He was standing, Dean following.

“Just give me a few minutes alone with Sam here. I’ll have him back to you in a jiffy.”

Sam looked at John and John nodded. Sam followed Carson into the next room, lifting his hip to sit on the bed when Carson gestured to it. Carson pulled on gloves and smiled a little as a nurse handed him a tray with a syringe on it and several vials for blood.

“Is there anything you want to tell me, young man?” Carson asked as he wrapped rubber tubing around Sam’s upper arm.

Sam frowned. “Don’t think so.”

Carson dismissed the nurse. “Is there a particular reason you haven’t told anyone that Dean is your brother?”

Sam started and Carson stuck the needle into his arm. “I’m sorry?”

Carson chuckled. “Did ya’ think I wouldn’t find out? I’m testing your DNA, Son. It was fairly obvious you were related.”

Sam bit his lip and contemplated how to handle this. He’d promised Dean no one would know. “Okay. Yeah. He’s my brother. But…” He shook his head. “Look…we’ve had to…John can’t know. Okay?”

It was Carson’s turn to frown, straightening up and flicking his eyes up from the vial filling with blood to Sam’s face. “Why?”

Sam sighed. How do you tell a virtual stranger that you want your brother to fuck you and John is making that happen? “We’ve had to…do things…and John would feel even more guilty than he does now if he knew.”

“Things?” Carson asked, pressing gauze to Sam’s arm. 

Sam blushed and looked down at his arm. “Look…this is like covered under doctor-patient privilege, right?” 

Carson set the vials of blood aside and snapped the gloves off. Sam’s eyes lifted to meet his and he could see understanding there. Carson’s eyes flicked to the door where Dean was staring in at them. “Of course. Unless you’re in some sort of danger, or present a danger to Atlantis, anything you say here stays here.”

Sam rolled his eyes, searching for the words. “Dean…he and I didn’t have a typical childhood. Our relationship has never been strictly conventional. Obviously the Sagare saw that. We’ve never…but if John knew…” Sam glanced at the door again. Outside it John and Dean were pacing, the tension building.

“Is Colonel Sheppard forcing you to do anything—“

“No!” Sam shook his head. “No…no, nothing like that.” He rubbed at his neck, feeling the flush of his embarrassment. He’d never spoken about this…about wanting this…certainly not to a total stranger. “I wouldn’t I have my voice back if it was something I didn’t want.”

Carson seemed to concede that point. “No, I suppose not. But this is—“

“Yeah, I know.” Sam exhaled slowly and thought about it. “I never expected to ever…you know…do it…and Dean would never have let it happen…I’ve never even told him…and I know it’s….” He stopped and narrowed his eyes. He didn’t want to say it was wrong, because it didn’t feel wrong at all. “John—Colonel Sheppard did what he had to. Now we’re just trying to do the best we can with…this.”

Carson looked him over, the look on his face tense. Sam held his breath, half expecting the doctor to tell him it was wrong and illegal and demand it stop…or at the very least, call Sheppard back in and tell him the whole sordid story. Instead, Carson sighed and looked back to the door. Sam didn’t have to look to know Dean was staring at him. He could feel his concern, he didn’t like Sam in there alone.

Carson nodded and put a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Very well, Sam…I’ll get these tests underway. You had better get out there before your brother comes storming in after you.”

Sam looked up and Dean was staring at him through the window. “Yeah, okay. Thanks Doc. And…I mean for everything.”

Carson nodded, smiling encouragingly. “Your secret is safe with me, lad.”

Sam grinned and hopped off the bed, opening the doors to the explosion of relief from both John and Dean. Ronon, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. “Dinner?”

Sam shrugged a little. “I could eat.”

*~*~*

 

“You’re hiding something.” Ronon said suddenly and Sam turned from staring out the window. Ronon had been watching him since they’d gotten back, and Sam had tried to ignore him, staring out the window thinking about Dean. He and John were in the next room. If he thought about it, he could feel Dean’s arousal.

He didn’t want to think about it. “I…what?” Sam asked. Ronon was standing very, very close his arms crossed over his chest. The nearness of the man made Sam uncomfortable…warm. His thoughts skittered over all the many things he was hiding, screeching to a halt on Dean…on wanting Dean, on the fact that they were in fact brothers, that he couldn’t possibly know what someone like Ronon would think about that.

“You and him…Dean.” Ronon’s eyes were on him, making him nervous, like they could see past him, through him. “You’re hiding something.”

Sam shook his head. “No…we’re just…we…love each other.”

“No, I get that.” Ronon’s smile was fierce. He moved closer and Sam tried to step clear, but Ronon moved with him. “It isn’t that.”

Sam’s heart raced. He was sweating. “I’ve been watching you.” Ronon said, his arms lifting, bracing against the window, blocking Sam in. Sam’s breathing tightened. He licked his lips and tried not to stare at the muscles in those arms, tried not to think about the sexual arousal he was reading from Dean and John.

“It…it’s just…I’m trying to protect him.”

“You want him.” Ronon leaned in closer, his face close to Sam’s and Sam could smell him…could almost taste him. “You want him and that freaks him out.”

“He…he just…It’s not his…” Sam pressed himself back against the window. He was hard and he was having trouble thinking of anything that didn’t involve losing a whole lot of clothes on his way to the bed…or the floor…

Ronon leaned in close to Sam’s ear. “You get off on watching John fuck him. You get off on this whole situation.” Ronon was so close, yet he hadn’t touched. Sam closed his eyes, tried to deny what he was saying.

“It’s the damn collars.” He opened his eyes, defiance in them. “It’s John and his fucking sex on the brain."

Ronon raised an eyebrow. “Maybe…to some degree…but then, Dean would be just as into it as you. I think we both know he isn’t.” Sam swallowed, shaking his head. “You’re hard right now, and they’re not even here.”

“No. It’s…they’re…I can feel them.” Sam was hard, and he couldn’t tell if it was Ronon’s proximity or Dean’s arousal in the next room or John’s for that matter…and fuck, but he needed to get away, needed to stop his questions. Needed to…

Ronon’s right hand moved and grabbed him, squeezing his stiff cock even through his pants. Sam gasped and tried to move away but Ronon pushed him back into the glass. “So…what is it…he’s not into guys?”

His hand worked over the length of Sam’s dick, his fingers pressing into it as Sam’s eyes rolled closed. “Or is it something else?” Sam was already close, and yet…Ronon’s hand stopped, holding him. Sam opened his eyes, Ronon’s face hovering so close. 

“Is it something about you?”

Sam pushed the panic away and licked his lips. “Me? Dean…he…he’d never want this…not like I did.” 

Ronon nodded, and Sam could see his mind working, realized he’d said too much. He leaned forward, taking away the inches that separated them, his lips brushing over Ronon’s. Ronon growled, his hand tightening, stroking. Sam pushed against his hand, wanting to come, to derail the conversation. Ronon knew what he was doing though, pushing Sam back. “Tell me what I want to know and I’ll let you come.”

Sam bit back a whimper of need. A little truth was called for here; somehow he knew that Ronon would know if it was a total lie. “He’s…we grew up together.” He didn’t quite meet the man’s eyes. Fuck, he couldn’t have said that.

“Your brother?” It was more a statement than a question, Ronon’s eyes seeking his out. Sam’s eyes went wide, his whole body stiffened, and his cock jerked in Ronon’s hand. “That’s it?” There was no horror in his face, no revulsion…in fact all Sam was reading off Ronon now was lust.

Sam shoved him, but the big man barely moved. “No…no…” Sam had promised him no one would know…and now the doctor knew and Ronon was thinking it and…Sam shook his head. “No…we…grew up together…we lived on the road together…He’s always protected me.”

“So…your brother.” Ronon said, his eyebrow raised and his expression clearly indicating his disbelief. His hand fondled Sam’s cock which was still hard despite his fear. “You want your brother. You want your brother to fuck you.” His voice was low, sultry, dripping with lust.

Sam squirmed. “No. You’re not listening to me.”

“Oh, I hear the words coming from your mouth Sam…and I feel the response here.” He squeezed his cock and just like that Sam came, groaning and leaning in to Ronon.

“Fuck you.” Sam said pushing at him again. Ronon’s hand squeezed his cock all the harder. Sam gasped involuntarily.

“Maybe…but that isn’t what you really want, is it? Maybe I’ll fuck you instead.” Ronon growled, his hands fumbling now with Sam’s pants. “You like that don’t you? Want someone else to take charge. Want it rough.” He got the pants open and Sam bumped his head on the window.

Ronon’s hand was on the over-sensitive skin of his cock. “Yes.” Sam whispered, surging forward toward him. 

*~*~*

Dean paced the small room, biting on his thumb. He’d already bitten his nails down to nothing, so all he had left was the tip of his thumb stuck between his teeth while he paced. He was nearly hard, the thoughts rolling off of John driving him crazy, even with John trying to sit and do performance evaluations…or something. He hadn’t really been paying attention.

John sighed in frustration and put down his stylus. “Dean?”

Dean rolled his eyes and collapsed into the chair, his thumb ending up right back between his teeth. Dean’s mind flushed with images of him sucking something else entirely. He sighed and pulled his thumb out of his mouth, wiping it on his pants and crossing his arms.

More images, of Ronon biting John’s shoulder and John biting over his ass. Dean sucking on long fingers. A hard cock sliding into his mouth. His thumb was back between his teeth again. His eyes glanced up to find Sheppard bent back over his computer screen. Dean’s eyes rolled closed and he let his thumb slip further into his mouth, imagining it was something else, sucking at it lightly.

John shifted in his seat and Dean yanked his thumb out, shaking his head. Dean sighed again and got up to go back to pacing. “You could go join Sam and Ronon. They’re close enough we shouldn’t have to worry.” John looked at the door to the adjoining room, then his eyes got wide. Dean felt a rolling wave of lust and sex emanating from Sam…amplified by John. “Or maybe you should let them be for the moment.”

Dean squinted at him, and got the impression of Sam and Ronon ripping at each other’s clothes. He growled and rubbed his hands over his face. This not talking thing was getting very old. His erection was starting to hurt. He closed his eyes and stalked over to John, shaking his head in disbelief of what he was about to do.

He grabbed John’s hand and held it to his crotch. It was the clearest and easiest way he knew to express his _need_ …and at this point that’s exactly what it was. Need.

“Whoa. Okay. I get it.” John nodded and licked his lips. “What…okay…let’s try this.” John blew out softly and opened Dean’s pants. Dean sighed in relief as his very hard cock sprang free. John eyed it for a moment, then licked the tip. Dean groaned and rocked forward as if being pulled. If not for John’s hands on his hips, he might have buried himself in the Colonel’s mouth.

Obviously the man had some experience, his tongue delved deliciously down the side of Dean’s cock and back up to the tip and Dean couldn’t help but fist a hand in John’s hair. The added contact only heightened the flow of thoughts and images until Dean was reeling from the sensations, and the only things keeping him on his feet was his hand in John’s hair and John’s hands on his hips.

*~*~*

Sam and Ronon battled toward a bed, shedding clothes as they went, pulling and stumbling and nipping at one another until Sam’s knees hit the edge of the mattress and he was falling forward, Ronon catching him and turning him, mindful of his injured arm, yet on top of him and already using his position to his advantage.

Sam tried to roll them, but Ronon’s extra weight played against him and before he could make an adjustment, Ronon’s cock had breached his ass, no prep other than the playing earlier…it burned and Sam bucked, but it was more a token than any real need to escape. Ronon’s hand fisted in his hair and pulled his head back. “John has trouble really being rough…but I don’t….this what you want, Sam?”

Ronon pushed in against Sam’s prostate and his vision swam. “Yeah…yeah…what I want.” Another wave of something came over him. _Want_. With it he got the impression of Dean’s cock in John’s mouth. “God…fuck…”

“My pleasure.” Ronon’s hips snapped forward and Sam grabbed handfuls of blanket, turning his face into the mattress as he groaned. 

“Harder.” Sam gasped and Ronon obliged, his hands pressing fingerprints into Sam’s skin as he pounded him and Sam’s cock screamed for attention.

*~*~*

Dean was going to go insane. It was like watching porn in his brain, only it stared his little brother and the only man Dean had ever known who could dwarf Sam even when they were the same height. Add to that the way John was working his cock and Dean should have been exploding buckets of come from his cock.

Only he wasn’t. It hurt even more now, and he pulled back, groaning as John’s mouth released him with a pop.

“What? What’s wrong?” John asked.

Dean shook his head, frustrated beyond imagining and gesturing at John’s groin. Obviously something about this damn thing made it so he had to take care of John first. 

“What?”

Dean gave him a look that he hoped conveyed “you’re an idiot” with convincing sincerity and dropped to one knee, gasping as his cock came in contact with John’s knee. He made quick work of freeing John’s erection and without thinking about it he opened his mouth and swallowed him, making John jump and thrust upward. Dean adjusted for depth and angle and worked hard to make him come quickly to ease his own pain.

*~*~*

The bed shook with the force of Ronon’s thrusting and Sam’s voice was already raw with the way he was groaning, half words and curses and moans worse than any porn soundtrack, begging and dirty words to egg the man on. Ronon roared as he came, shoving the bed into the wall as he shoved into Sam.

Sam’s cock scraped across the bed, stuttering in the blanket until it was too much and he was coming hard, yelling into the mattress and pushing back against Ronon before collapsing onto the bed.

Ronon lay on top of him, panting, his hands still on Sam’s hips. The skin under his fingers was indented when he finally released Sam and stood, popping his neck, before reaching down to help Sam up.

“John can’t know yet.” Ronon said casually as if Sam had somehow admitted that Dean was something other than a childhood friend. He went in search of his clothes. 

“I agree.” Sam said, moving a little more stiffly as he too went in search of clothes. He watched Ronon for a minute. He hadn’t wanted to admit it, but he could see Ronon would make a good ally. “And Dean…he can’t know that you know. Not yet.” 

Ronon nodded. “Yeah, okay.” He couldn’t tell if Ronon was okay with the revelation, or just relieved that Sam’s secret wasn’t something more damaging.

Sam was filled with the sudden urge to go to Dean, to help relieve his obvious distress. “I…Dean…I gotta…” He pulled on his pants and went to the door.

Dean was on his knees in front of John, his head bobbing over John’s cock. Sam slipped in beside him, his hand moving between his brother and John’s leg to cup his cock. Dean pulled up and looked at him, then shuddered as Sam found a rhythm that was obviously working.

He closed his eyes and went back to work on John. It was only a minute or so and John stiffened, thrusting up and coming with a long, low groan. As soon as Dean’s mouth came off, swallowing, his own cock started spewing onto the floor. He collapsed against Sam for a minute, then slowly pulled himself together and stood up.

He shook his head when Sam reached for him. “Dean…I—“ But Dean was gone, stalking away past Ronon in the doorway and off toward the bathroom. Sam heard him slam his fist against the wall, guessing he would have slammed the door if he could. “He’s not much for afterglow.” Sam said with a half smile.

John shook his head. “He came to me this time. That’s progress, right?”

Sam shrugged and picked himself up off the floor. “I’ve been thinking. We’re used to being…active. He needs something to do.”

John looked up at him, eyebrows arching. His mouth curved up in a wicked smirk and Sam blushed, rolling his eyes. “Something other than sex. Something to burn off some energy, give him a purpose.”

“What, like a job?”

Sam smirked at that. “He’s never had one of those. No…I was thinking maybe a work out schedule…he’s a fighter. We haven’t trained in a while…what with the whole slave thing…and you know…finding ourselves in another galaxy and then there’s the sex…” He realized he was rambling and forced himself to stop.

“Sparring?” Ronon offered. “We could set something up.”

“There’s the whole proximity thing.” John said, chewing on the stylus in his hand. He sat back in his chair, looking up at Ronon who was still leaning in the doorway. “But that seems to be getting better.”

“You and Dean?” Sam asked, turning to Ronon. He got a decided mental image of his brother and Ronon sparing, half naked and sweaty. John groaned in echo, then cleared his throat. “We could…watch.”

“Okay. Tomorrow morning. But make it casual.” John said, looking up at Ronon.

Ronon snorted and reached out to ruffle John’s hair, chuckling as he ducked away from Ronon’s hand. “I’m sleeping in my quarters then.” He pulled John into kiss him and Sam tried not to watch, turning instead to see Dean coming out of the bathroom toward them, wrapped in a towel and still dripping. John groaned and Ronon let him go, turning to Sam and kissing him just as deeply before he moved past Dean and let himself out.

Sam blushed as Dean stared at him, then cleared his throat and excused himself to go shower the come from his ass.

*~*~*

Dean woke early the next morning with Sam’s body wrapped protectively around him, one leg casually pinning Dean’s to the bed. In the other bed, John slept, snoring lightly. It was warm and oddly comfortable…even comforting. Sam’s breath brushed over his ear. Dean closed his eyes and sighed. 

He had to wonder how much of what he was feeling was coming from the damn collar. It wasn’t like him. Yet, he felt no urge to push Sam away, no need to escape the bed. In fact, he was feeling a little like he wanted to—“

No. Dean opened his eyes. He was going to draw the line there. He wasn’t voluntarily making a move on his brother. _His brother_. It should seem odd that he had to remind himself of that, but what seemed odd was that it should matter.

Sam was a good looking guy, and Dean was…flexible. He shook his head and shifted so that he was more on his back, less of his body pressed against Sam’s. Sam scooted closer, his head rolling onto Dean’s shoulder, and before he’d thought better of it, Dean was pressing a kiss to Sam’s forehead. His lips lingered there, fingers rising to brush the soft curls of hair from his temple.

Warmth, a flood of feeling rushed through him, love, affection…desire. Sam. It startled him to realize that this wasn’t coming from John, who was still sleeping, not dreaming…not projecting his endless thoughts about sex in various places and positions…Dean looked at Sam’s face, peaceful in his sleep. He couldn’t remember the last time Sam had slept so deeply, so free of nightmares.

Sam who wanted him. Sam who said he’d always wanted him. Sam who had accepted this…and got his voice back to prove it. Sam’s hand was on his thigh, high up and close to his cock, it’s heat seeping in to Dean’s skin. 

He was so beautiful like this. Beautiful and calm, safe. The last year had been hard on him, and the fear he knew Sam had been hiding, holding on to because of things the demon had said.

Dean breathed deeply and kissed him again, soft lips, a little lower on his forehead…then the end of his nose. He had to tilt Sam’s head back to reach his lips. His stomach fluttered. It was barely a touch, not really a kiss…it was…not enough. Dean tried again, pressing his lips to Sam’s softly.

It was…nice. At least his cock thought so. That was maybe more than he bargained for. He pulled away, but when he did, Sam’s eyes were open. “Dean?”

He opened his mouth, then closed it again. There was nothing to say, even if he could say it. Sam’s eyes were sleep-filled and hazy, but his hand brushed up on Dean’s thigh, closer still to the cock that was waking to the idea…and damn but it still wasn’t John’s thought in his head when Sam lifted his head and Dean wanted to taste his mouth.

He didn’t want to think about it, so he acted, he pulled Sam to him, pulled him to his mouth and slid his tongue past unresisting lips. Sam moaned and moved so that his back wasn’t as twisted, welcoming the kiss, his tongue dancing around and over Deans. When they pulled apart Dean was breathing heavy and his cock had grown to fill Sam’s hand.

He risked a glance to the other bed, got a vague image of John’s dream about flying and looked back at Sam. He lifted a finger to his lips in a “Shh” gesture. Sam nodded, his eyes wide.

He didn’t know what he was doing…he just knew that his heart was pounding in his chest and his mouth was filled with the taste of Sam…and it was making him crazy. Sam had said Dean would never chose this…would never accept this…but Dean was starting to think maybe…Sam’s hand stroked him and Dean shuddered.

It wasn’t about the physical pleasure…Sam’s lips were on his and his thoughts short circuited. When he could think again, Sam was kissing his way down Dean’s chest, pausing to lick and suck and bite at his nipple until Dean was arching up, his legs wide as his calves pressed to the bed.

Sam’s hand left Dean’s cock and both hands slid up Dean’s body, drawing his arms up and pinning his wrists under one massive hand, the hand not wrapped in bandages and plaster. His mouth then went back to the teasing, moving to his other nipple, laving over it with the flat of his tongue, then flicking the tightened nub with the tip before closing teeth over it and tossing his head.

Dean gasped and thrust upward with his hips, craving friction. Sam’s eyes sparkled when he lifted his eyes. Alive with passion and lust and the love that had always been there…Dean’s breathing was speeding up and his skin was starting to get sweaty. Sam’s big hand held his wrists captive as he moved back to the other nipple. Dean grunted, trying to direct Sam down, to his needy cock, but Sam ignored him. 

“Dean.” He whispered it…soft, over the damp skin, and Dean didn’t think his name alone should do _that_ to him. He wanted to hear it again…the sound of Sam’s voice whispered and raw. “Dean. Dean. Dean.” 

He pulled on his hands, but Sam wasn’t letting go. Sam. _Sam_. He wanted his hands. He wanted his voice. He wanted to yell and make Sam’s evil mouth leave his fucking chest alone and pay more attention to the rest of him. He tried to make as much noise as he could without the use of his vocal chords. Sam smiled at him…fucking grinned…and went right back to tormenting him, his tongue plowing a trail down his abs and circling his navel. 

“Open your eyes Dean.”

That voice wasn’t Sam’s. Dean looked up to find Sam relinquishing control of his hands to John, who was on the bed with them. Dean hadn’t felt him wake, hadn’t sensed him moving, he’d been too focused on Sam. “Watch.” Dean’s eyes flicked to Sam who was kneeling between his legs, spreading Dean open. His cock stood hard and curved toward him.

Sam started on his left knee, lifting and bending and licking under…nipping lightly…kissing up until he reached Dean’s hip…then circling his navel again, sliding over tight muscle and into the scratchy patch of pubic hair above his cock. Dean’s guttural groan rocked the bed. Sam. _Sam_.

John was behind Dean now, Dean’s head pillowed on John’s stomach, and he could see himself through John’s eyes, see Sam…god, he could feel Sam…John held Dean’s wrists behind his head. “He wants you. He wants you to want this.” John whispered. “He told me he loves you so much it hurts. Let go Dean…just let go.”

Dean dragged air in and lifted his head to see Sam suck one of his balls into his mouth. Fuck. Sam. He grunted, knowing it made only a little sound. His legs trembled. Sam’s tongue touched the base of his cock…just above the balls…just…touched and was gone. Dean could see the pre-come glistening at the slit…until Sam’s tongue licked it up and curled up to savor the liquid like it was precious. 

Hot, moist hair against his skin. Dean pulled on the hands that held him, wanting to pull Sam in, down. Please….Fucking please…Sam…just…John’s hands held him and yet he could almost feel those hands slithering over his skin, tweaking nipples and Sam’s mouth…Sam’s fucking mouth was there…right there, just hovering over his cock, his eyes on Dean’s. 

His hands held Dean’s knees, spread open and bare and fuck…fuck…A flick of Sam’s tongue over the head made Dean buck up, his teeth sinking into his lower lip. Another, and another…and Dean was sure his brother was trying to drive him crazy…The tongue circled him, over the head, under it. Then…slowly, those lips closed over his cock and Dean let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, his hips shoving up. Sam’s hands moved to his hips, pushing him back down…and his mouth was gone…back to kissing his hips, licking his thighs.

“Dean.” The word whispered over spit-slick flesh was like skin against him. Dean pushed back into John, his hips coming off the bed again and no amount of pushing was going to get him back down, Sam licked the underside, tracing the long vein and flicking off the top before he swallowed Dean and just like that, Dean was coming, screaming, his body rigid and pushed up into Sam.

When it was over, he collapsed bonelessly to the bed, his brother’s name echoing around in his head. It took a minute to realize it wasn’t only in his head. John released him and Sam slid up to lay across him, kissing over his face frantically. “Sam. Sam. Sam.” His voice was hoarse, cracked…but his voice.

“Dean…god, Dean…” Sam rolled them so that John could move, so that Dean was on top of him and looking down at him. Suddenly he had to pee so bad he wasn’t sure he’d make the bathroom. He lurched up and away, holding himself as he ran. 

He leaned against the wall as the pain ripped through him and a metallic thunk told him he’d passed the device, just as Sam had. He looked up as he flushed, to find Sam’s face, all shiny and sweaty and pleased. Dean shook his head. He didn’t know what to say.

“You okay?” Sam asked finally, some of the pleasure slipping from his face to be replaced with concern. He came a few steps closer and lifted a hand to Dean’s cheek.

“Yeah, Sam. I’m good.” He was…better than good. 

Sam kissed him, and Dean let him. His brother loved him. He loved his brother. All the rest could be as fucked up as this was and that didn’t matter. They were Winchesters. Fucked up was their middle name. 

 

They were both barefoot, bare-chested, sweaty. John shifted uncomfortably and Sam grinned cheekily at him. Ronon circled a little more warily around Dean after getting put down once. Dean was going to have a bit of a black eye, but he was still on his feet. 

John had to admit, the kid had skills. “What kind of hunting did you say you two did?”

Sam looked back at him and shrugged. “You know…hunting.”

John frowned at him for a minute, then looked back to the floor where Ronon and Dean grappled, muscles bulging in their arms and calves as they pushed their bodies toward one another.

He’d locked down the gym so that they wouldn’t be interrupted. Dean was still pretty self-conscious about the whole voice thing, and John wasn’t really eager to share this view. Dean’s foot slipped and he went down, but he took Ronon with him, rolling backward and ending up on top of the bigger man, even landing a punch hard across Ronon’s jaw before Ronon threw him off.

“I told you, stop holding back.” Dean said as he climbed to his feet. “I can take it.”

Ronon shrugged and charged. They went down again, wrestling around on the mats. John exhaled and tried to force his mind to stay on the match. Dean fell back against the mat, calling for a time out as he looked at John. “Dude! Cut me a break.”

Ronon helped Dean up off the floor and they both came for towels to dry off. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to fight this guy with _that_ in my head?” Dean asked.

John chuckled. Actually, he kind of did. Whenever he and Ronon fought he had to deal with it. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to watch you doing that and think about anything else?” John asked. Dean shot him a dirty look. “Sorry. Maybe I should…wait in the hall?”

“Don’t you have work to do or something?” Dean asked, wiping his sweaty face.

“Proximity issue.” John said, though he held up his hands when Dean looked like he was going to take a punch. “Okay, I promise…I’m only going to think about fairies and lollipops.” Dean dropped his towel and headed back to the mat and John tried. He _really_ tried to think about fairies…only they came out looking more like angels…and they had Dean’s face…and these big wings that erupted out of his muscular back…He shook his head and licked his lips. He needed to get this thing under control.

He looked up and Dean had a hand locked around Ronon’s neck. Both were motionless, straining, and John couldn’t help but see them kissing…Dean pulling Ronon down, lifting up…then Dean was kissing, his foot behind Ronon’s, knocking him to the floor and straddling him.

“Fuck!” Dean stood, pushing off Ronon’s chest. Ronon was laughing. Sam jumped up and went to Dean.

John was about to say something, when his intercom came to life. “Colonel Sheppard.”

“Go ahead Elizabeth.”

“Rodney and Teyla are on their way back from the Sagare. I figured you’d want to hear what they have to say.”

John nodded and both Dean and Ronon moved to pull on shirts and shoes. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

With any luck his team would once again pull them out of a tough spot. A little bit of Teyla’s negotiating, and some of Rodney’s brilliance and they’d be sending the boys home to Earth. John stood, his eyes stealing over Dean’s ass. Problem was, John wasn’t really sure he wanted them to leave.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean works on convincing Sam that he's okay with the way things are working out. Sam and Dean get their first introduction to the Wraith. John finds out.

“I have bad news and I have more bad news.” Rodney said as John led the rest into the conference room.

When they were all seated, Ronon to John’s left, Sam and Dean to his right, John motioned for him to continue. “According to the Sagare, punishment is for life. The collars are not designed to be removed.”

“The Sagare view this as a more humane form of criminal rehabilitation. It doesn’t fail, and each hafine is given the opportunity to do something they are good at and the chance to be happy.” Teyla added, though her eyes were shooting daggers at John.

“So, that’s the bad news?” Elizabeth said. “What’s the other bad news?”

This time Rodney fidgeted, playing with his laptop. “I can’t find any way of taking them off either.” He sighed and shook his head. “I’ve brought back all the information I could find. I’ll keep digging. But you should know this technology was developed by an offshoot of the ancients, a devoted group of scientists who, by all accounts, went so far beyond their peers that they were ascending centuries before the others figured it out.”

“There is more.” Teyla said and all eyes shifted to her. “In my discussions with the Emir I have discovered that the Sagare have not had to deal with the Wraith in many years. Hundreds in fact. It is because they have bred away the “impurities” which draw them.”

“Impurities?” Elizabeth leaned forward, squinting at Teyla.

“Apparently, they believe that there are things which make a person more appealing to the Wraith.” Rodney offered, rolling his hands in a gesture that generally indicated he wasn’t sure if he believed them. 

“The Sagare claim that they have managed to make themselves…less appealing.” Teyla said, turning her eyes on Sam. “That is why they were very happy for us to take Sam, why they were so certain he would die soon. He, apparently, has these impurities.”

“Okay. Hold on. Just one second.” Dean said, raising his hand. Every eye in the place turned to him and he blushed. “Yes, I have my voice back. Yes, I’m fine. Explain something to me. Wraith?”

Beside him John sighed. “Enemies of ours. They feed off of human beings. Suck the life out of them.”

“Vampires?” Dean asked, turning now to John. His head was suddenly filled with images of sucking that had nothing to do with vampires and he closed his eyes. John reddened a little and shook his head.

“Not exactly, but close. I’ll give you two the details later.”

“So…Sam has this…whatever that makes him a tasty snack?”

“Dean, calm down.” Sam’s hand was on his back and Dean felt electricity shoot through him from the spot.

“I wonder if that has anything to do with what Carson found in his blood work.” Elizabeth said.

“There’s probably a protein marker or two, if I read the Sagare’s research right.” Rodney said. “The computer’s having some difficulty with the translation. I should be able to clear it up once I plug the data into the Ancient database.”

“Okay, Rodney, keep digging. Get with Carson and compare notes.”

Rodney and Teyla left the room and John fidgeted, standing and pacing over to the glass wall. “So, Dean.” Elizabeth turned to him and Sam and Dean blushed. “I’m glad you’re speaking.”

“Me too. That whole not talking thing was getting old fast.” Sam’s hand was under the table, on his knee. “So, I should thank you.” Dean said, glancing at Sam, then up at Elizabeth. “Your team saved us from…who knows what…and you’ve been nothing but kind since we got here.”

She smiled, though Dean read it as a little sad. “I hope that you’re comfortable with the situation as it stands. Rodney’s our best and brightest…but it sounds like it might take time.”

“No offense, Doctor Weir, but it sounds like we’re stuck right where we are.” Dean said, standing now to pace a little. “Not that I’m complaining. I mean, this place is incredible and back home…we didn’t have much going for us, you know?” He stopped near the window overlooking the command center, hands on his hips. “Miss my car though.”

“Dean?” Sam was coming toward him, his face confused, his eyes dark. “What are you saying?”

Dean lifted a hand to his cheek, and for a moment it was just the two of them in the whole world, then John cleared his throat and Dean dropped his hand. “All of that to say, thank you for your hospitality.” Dean said, inclining his head toward Elizabeth. 

“Least we can do, right John?” Elizabeth stood.

John nodded. “Right. Least we can do.”

“You know, in all the chaos of the last few days, we didn’t get your last names.” Elizabeth raised an eyebrow as she looked at them. Dean stiffened, turning to glance at Sam briefly. It was hard to believe it had only been a few days.

“I’m Dean Win—Winston. This is Sam Marks.”

Ronon snorted and Dean looked at him funny. They were old standbys. Names they’d used enough to be comfortable with. Names that wouldn’t turn up with dead bodies attached to them, or a rap sheet for petty crimes, or anything else unsavory. 

Elizabeth nodded and looked to John. “Have we determined if the talking means that you can get more than ten yards away without him passing out?”

John shrugged and came to stand beside Dean. “We haven’t tried if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Let’s try. I need you back on active duty.”

“Yes ma’am.”

 

“I’m not comfortable with this.” Dean said as he stood beside Sam while John walked away.

“Noted.” John said over his shoulder, though he kept walking. Dean watched until he disappeared around the corner, then looked at Sam who had the radio John had given them.

“Anything?”

Sam held up the radio. “He looks fine.”

“I’m right here.” Dean said, glaring at his brother.

“Sit tight. I’m headed to Rodney’s lab. Holler if anything happens.”

“I’m not just going to sit here in the hallway and wait.” Dean said, swiping his hand over the door lock and stalking into the room they shared with Sheppard. Sam followed, watching as Dean collapsed onto one of the beds with a sigh.

“You didn’t faint. That’s good right?” Sam asked, dropping the radio on the table by the bed, and falling in next to Dean. 

“I suppose.” 

It was quiet, then Dean could feel Sam reaching for him. “Did you mean…I mean, you said we didn’t have much to go back to…and I wasn’t sure…”

Dean made a face and shook his head. “What did we have, Sam? Dad’s gone. Mom’s been gone. There’s a price on my head, and a demon after yours. And even if we manage…somehow…to take the fucker down…what then? What? We spend the rest of our lives chasing evil?” He sighed and looked at Sam. “Maybe I’m tired of that. Maybe I’m tired of all of it.”

He could sense Sam’s brain working, but it was just the same way he could tell Sam’s different bitch faces apart, nothing unusual. “If I get this right…I get what John’s thinking, feeling…and you get what I’m feeling…and John gets both?”

“I think so.” Sam leaned up on his elbow. 

Dean closed his eyes, remembering what it was like in the moment when he just let go…when he’d let Sam’s touch take him past his fear.

“And you…want this…” Dean reached for Sam, drawing him in and kissing him lightly.

“Yes.” Sam’s voice was just above a whisper as their lips parted.

Dean nodded, pulling Sam down to rest with his head on Dean’s shoulder. “Then this is what you get.”

“Dean?”

“Just…go with it, okay, Sammy? Don’t make a big thing.”

“No chick-flick moments?”

“Damn straight.”

“Okay.”

It was quiet again…and Dean exhaled slowly, turning on his side and swallowing. “So, I was thinking…time to turn the tables on that fucker.”

Sam scowled at him. “What?”

“Let’s see how he likes it when _his_ head gets filled with…this.” Dean’s mouth captured Sam’s and his hand went straight to Sam’s groin. Sam groaned into Dean’s mouth as he worked that hand into Sam’s pants, holding his cock while his tongue slipped inside Sam’s mouth. 

“Dean…” Sam’s legs fell open beneath him, wanton and wanting. Dean pulled up to try to get him undressed, but Sam pulled him back, chasing after his mouth greedily. “Slow. Want to go slow.”

Dean nodded, closing his eyes and pressing his body along Sam’s while their tongues danced around one another. Sam’s hands slid along Dean’s sides and up to his face. His cock pressed up against Dean’s thigh, hard and looking for more than the casual slide of bodies. “Pants.” Dean said, pulling on the waistband of Sam’s pants. Sam nodded, lifting his ass so Dean could pull them down. Sam kicked until they fell to the floor, then pulled Dean back to him, rolling them while he kissed over Dean’s chin and jaw until Dean was on his back.

Sam’s hands fumbled with his belt, eventually managing to get it loose and start on the zipper. Dean chuckled. “I thought you wanted slow.”

Sam got the zipper down and grinned. “Want this.” He reached a hand inside and stroked it over Dean’s cock until Dean gasped and nodded.

“Yeah, yeah…clothes…we need less clothes.” 

Sam’s cock was bobbing in place as he sat up to pull at his shirt and Dean tried to wiggle out of his pants. Dean managed to drop his shoes and pants and reach for Sam, his mouth closing over Sam’s, even as he turned them and pressed Sam back against the mattress. “Easy.” Dean murmured as Sam’s hands closed around his cock, pulling frantically. “Easy Sam.”

“Dean…” Sam’s face was filled with desire, mixed with an urgency. Dean nodded, stretching to reach for the lube on the nightstand.

“It’s okay Sammy, I’m here.” Dean was kneeling now between Sam’s spread legs, running one hand reverently over his body, over muscle and bone he knew as well as his own…but had never really seen like this. Sam’s feet pressed flat to the mattress, his stomach muscles tightened and he lifted his ass, inviting Dean to do more than look.

“Please, Dean? Please?”

“Shh…” Dean squirted lube onto his fingers and held his breath as he brought them down, under Sam’s cock, pressing them slowly inside. He watched Sam’s face, his eyes closing, his mouth falling open. “Easy.” Dean whispered, turning his eyes to where his fingers disappeared into Sam. Fuck if that wasn’t a hundred kinds of hot, especially combined with the mewling noises Sam was making.

Dean scissored his fingers, working Sam open, then, almost by accident, brushed his prostate. Sam’s body went rigid, his thighs straining. Dean grinned. “Like that Sammy?” He worked in a third finger, moving around and seeking out that hot button again. 

“Fuck.” Sam’s whole body bucked and Dean’s grin just grew. He strummed over it again and again until Sam yelled and his cock went from dribbling to spewing. Dean gasped as Sam’s ass clenched around his hand. 

Slowly, Sam eased back down, panting, his skin glowing with sweat, his stomach painted white. Dean pulled his hand free and leaned over his brother, licking at sweat over one nipple as he positioned his cock to take the place of his hand. He sucked Sam’s nipple into his mouth, pinching it between his lips, rolling it with his tongue. Sam’s head tossed against the bed, his hands grabbing Dean’s shoulders and squeezing.

Dean sank into him, into the hot core of him, his eyes closing as it wrapped around him, the after shocks of Sam’s orgasm clamping down on him before he could begin to move. “Open your eyes Sam.” Dean said softly as he pulled slowly out, then moved back in. Sam’s eyes rolled, opened, and slowly focused on Dean’s face. 

“Dean…god…”

Dean nodded, sweat starting to drip from his nose and chin, “Right here Sam. You want this, I want to see you.”

Sam licked his lips, and moved his hips to match Dean’s thrust. His fingers slid up Dean’s neck, into his sweat-damp hair, pulled Dean down to kiss, biting at his lips before plunging his tongue into Dean’s mouth. “Want this Dean…want you.” Sam whispered. “Always you.”

Dean’s rhythm was slow, steady. Sam’s body moved in time with his, like they were one unit. He angled himself to go deeper, the tip of his cock banging Sam’s prostate all over again. Sam yelled, arching up into him and Dean could feel his cock gamely trying to recover, pinched between them and sliding on sweat and come. “You got more in you baby brother?” Dean whispered in his ear, hitting the sweat spot again.

“Dean…fuck…too much…” Sam’s hands fell to the bed, fisting in the blanket and all but tearing it off. Dean took that as a sign to go harder, and did, speeding up and thrusting harder into Sam.

“Dean…please…god…fuck…Dean…” Sam’s didn’t stop, his mouth running with obscenities and mewling whines and Dean couldn’t hold back anymore, finishing with three brutal thrusts and pulsing deep inside Sam before collapsing against him. Sam’s cock, trapped between them came once more, hot and sticky on Dean’s stomach before he rolled away, panting.

“So I take it no one fainted.” 

They both looked up to where John stood just inside the door, grinning at them. Sam tried to say something, but shook his head, rolling to his side. Dean got up and reached for his pants. “No thanks to you.”

John kept grinning as he came closer, hands out to his side. “Had to try it sometime. It’s good, right?”

Sam finally managed to sit, his own grin a little lopsided. “It was good for me.” 

Dean threw his pants at Sam. John dropped onto a chair. “So there I was, talking to Rodney about the technology and the Sagare and all of a sudden, I could barely stand up right. My head was filled with the two of you, and my body was coming along and when Rodney realized—“

Dean stopped him with a hand raised. “He what?”

John gestured at his groin. “Kinda hard to hide.”

Dean smiled. “Okay, that I get.”

“Suffice it to say, I understand what you’ve been dealing with.”

“If that’s your way of apologizing, I accept.”

“I’m just glad to see the two of you getting…comfortable.”

“Well, I’m not comfortable.” Sam said, getting up finally. “I’m sticky. I’m gonna get cleaned up.”

Dean watched him go, then looked back at John. “So…you okay?” 

John nodded. “Yeah.”

Dean raised an eyebrow as he caught a wave of lust from John. “I could…you know…”

John shook his head. “I’m a big boy, Dean. I don’t need to get off every time the thought crosses my mind.”

“I’m just saying…since it seems to be…forget it.”

He went and got his pants and put them on. He felt a little out of sorts now. At least with the whole fainting issue off the table he could maybe do something other than follow John around.

 

“You’re sure about this?” Sam asked John for maybe the fourth time. He was more uneasy than Dean seemed to be over the whole thing. 

“It’s a pretty standard mission. I’ll only be gone a few hours.”

“You’ve never really explained what it is you do.” Dean said, watching John check the pockets of his vest.

John sort of shrugged. “We…explore.”

“Explore?”

John nodded. “We go through the gate, meet people, make allies, trade for food.”

“Buy slaves.” Dean added with the raise of an eyebrow.

“Well, not usually.” John said with a smile. “Only on the off chance that we run across lost boys from home.” He put his vest on and sighed. “It’s going to be fine. You guys relax. I’ll be back before you know it.”

They looked up as Ronon and Teyla joined them and Rodney came bounding down the stairs. “Okay, we’re ready.”

Carson and Elizabeth came to a stop beside Sam and Dean. “Now, don’t leave the area around the gate until we’re sure.” Carson said. 

“I know, Doc.” John smiled. “How far is it to the village?” he asked Teyla.

“A half day’s walk.”

“You sure we can’t take a jumper?” Rodney asked.

“A little exercise won’t hurt.” John said.

“It isn’t the walk to the village.” Rodney countered, “It’s the crazy running back to the gate later.”

John rolled his eyes and nodded to the tech who dialed the gate. Sam watched it woosh to life with a certain anticipation. The whole thing was still really insane. He’d been handling it as long as he didn’t really have to face the whole other galaxy thing. Concentrating on Dean had let him ignore the rest. But watching John and his team approaching the gate he was forced to face the notion of interplanetary travel and aliens and the fact that they’d probably never see their home again. He slipped his hand into Dean’s.

Dean squeezed it lightly, though his eyes never left the ring and its watery surface. One by one the team disappeared into the gate. When they were all gone, everyone just stood still, their eyes all slipping to Dean.

“We’re through Elizabeth. Everything okay on your end?”

Dr. Weir’s eyes met Dean’s and he shrugged. “I feel fine.”

She exhaled and nodded. “We seem to be good on our end.”

“Roger that. We’ll wait a half hour, then head to the village.”

“Good luck Colonel.”

The gate closed, and for a long moment, everyone kept staring at Dean, until he sighed and pulled his hand free of Sam’s. “Stop staring. I’m fine.”

Sam watched him take a few steps, then look at him as if expecting him to follow. Sam licked his lips and went to Dean’s side, raising a hand to touch his back. He felt the nausea first, then a wave of dizziness. “Dean?”

“Sam…I…” Dean grabbed for his shoulder just as his knees gave out. Sam eased him to the ground, cushioning his head. 

Dean’s face was flushed, a cold sweat covering his forehead. He swallowed hard. “Sam.” His voice was barely a whisper, and Sam looked up quickly.

Carson was falling to his knees beside Dean. “Dial the gate. Get Colonel Sheppard back here.”

“Do it.” Elizabeth echoed.

Sam watched Dean’s eyes roll back and his body convulse. The gate came to life. “Colonel Sheppard.”

There was no response. “Colonel Sheppard, come in.” Elizabeth turned to Carson, who shook his head lightly.

“What?” Sam asked, holding Dean’s hand. He wasn’t feeling very well himself. A little sick to his stomach. A little dizzy. “Doc?” The room was spinning. He heard the doctor call his name, but couldn’t make words come out. He fell forward into a swirling darkness that seemed to swallow him up.

 

“How long?” John asked as Rodney glanced at his watch.

“Ten minutes.”

The gate came to life suddenly and they turned to it expectantly. When nothing happened, John reached for his radio. “Atlantis, this is Sheppard.”

Nothing but static crackled back. “Maybe it isn’t Atlantis.” Ronon offered.

“Maybe we should get out of the way.” Rodney said. “If it isn’t Elizabeth it could be Wraith.”

“Okay, back up to the tree line.” John said. They moved in tandem for the cover of the trees, watching the gate. Nothing happened. They just about made cover when the gate shut off. “Well, that was weird.”

“Maybe it was a wrong number.” Rodney offered.

“Maybe.” Something told John it wasn’t just a wrong number though. Something was wrong. “You said these people had only rudimentary technology, right?” he asked, turning to Teyla.

“Yes, most of their technology is used for crop storage and increased yield.”

“So nothing like blocking radio signals, or something.”

“I do not believe so.” 

John stared back at the gate. “Okay, let’s get this mission done. I want to get back to Atlantis.”

“Oh, can’t stand being away from your little slaves?” Rodney asked. 

John growled at him. “I’m worried about them, that’s all. They’re alone.”

“Hardly. They have all of Atlantis.”

 

“We need to get them to Colonel Sheppard.” Carson said urgently. “They’re bodies are slowly shutting down.”

“I can’t just send them through the gate not knowing what happened to Colonel Sheppard and his team.” Elizabeth said.

Radek cleared his throat. “I have the MALP ready.”

Carson shook his head. “We don’t have much time.”

“Major Lorne, is your team ready?”

Lorne nodded. “Yes Ma’am.”

“Radek, send the MALP through. Lorne be ready to move just as soon as we’re sure it’s clear.” 

Carson zipped up his vest, shifting uncomfortably beside the stretchers holding Sam and Dean. The gate wooshed and the MALP lurched forward. Everyone in the room held their breath and waited. Radek looked up. “There’s no one there. The picture looks like everything is normal.”

Elizabeth nodded to Lorne who moved toward the gate. “Let’s go.” He let his team go first, followed by the stretchers, with Carson bringing up the rear.

“Bring them home, Major.”

“Will do, ma’am.”

 

John didn’t like how this was playing out. “There’s no one here.” Ronon said.

“And they haven’t been here in a while.” Rodney said, coming back from his exploration of a building. 

“Colonel Sheppard!” Teyla called and he set off at a jog to find her squatting beside a body. A Wraith body.

“Okay, I guess we know what happened.” He felt a wave of nausea and dizziness sweep over him. He staggered toward the wall. “Dean.”

“Are you okay?”

He shook his head. Dean was nearby…and in trouble. “Back to the gate.” 

“Colonel Sheppard?” Teyla jogged alongside him. 

He shook his head. “Something isn’t good. We need to get back to the gate.”

“Elizabeth would have radioed if there was something wrong.”

“I’m thinking that there’s something on this side preventing her.”

“The radio worked fine when we came through.”

John nodded, gathering Rodney and Ronon as they jogged past. “I know. But we haven’t heard a thing since.”

Suddenly Teyla’s hand shot out and pulled him down. They rolled into the brush, Ronon and Rodney going to ground nearby. Teyla held up her hand and looked around them slowly. “Wraith,” she whispered, pointing in two directions.

“Great.”

His radio crackled to life, Lorne’s voice pouring out of it. “Colonel Sheppard, come in.”

John winced and grabbed the radio. “Major, radio silence. Immediately. And take cover.”

There was no response, so he assumed Lorne got the message. He squatted beside Teyla and watched around them. Dean was starting to come around. He could feel it. John breathed a little easier, then Teyla hissed beside him and he followed her eyes to the trio of Wraith coming their way.

 

Dean’s head was pounding and he was moving, despite the fact that he was laying down. He opened his eyes, then wished he hadn’t. The leaves and trees moving past him made him dizzy. “Sam.” 

“Take it easy lad.” The doctor. He recognized the voice. “Sam is near.”

They stopped and Dean felt himself lowered to the ground. He looked up. They were…well, he couldn’t tell. The doctor knelt beside him, checking his pulse. Sam was on a stretcher next to him, just starting to come around. Dean reached for him. “I fainted again.” Dean said, his voice dripping with disgust. 

“Fan out, eyes open. Colonel Sheppard didn’t say what we’re up against.” Major Lorne came to squat next to them. “Welcome back boys.”

“Where are we?” Dean asked, sitting up. 

“P3X-443.”

“Where?”

“According to Teyla, the natives of the planet call it Parcorte,” the doctor offered.

Dean just shook his head. More with the whole planets thing. Sam moaned and sat up holding his head. He looked pale and shaky. Dean imagined he did too. “Now what?”

“Major.” Lorne looked up at one of his men. “We’ve got movement.” Lorne got up and joined him.

“Wraith.” He turned back to Sam and Dean. “You two know how to handle a gun?” When they both nodded, he held out his hand to the man next to him and took his sidearm, then pulled his own. “Stay behind us. Don’t shoot unless you have no choice. Then empty your clip and run like hell.” He handed the guns to Dean who passed one to Sam. Dean noticed even the doctor had one.

“These things have a weak spot?” Dean asked as he checked the load.

“Not really. Just keep plugging them until they stop getting up.” Lorne said before he moved off to check with his men.

“You okay?” Dean asked Sam who was still looking a little green.

He shook his head a little, then nodded. “Will be. John’s…not too far away. I have the feeling that the closer he gets the better we’ll feel.”

There were the sounds of distant gunfire, then John’s voice on the radio. “Lorne, do you have a clear line to the gate?”

“Negative, sir. There are four…no, five Wraith between us and the gate.”

“Shit. We got five on our tails too. Make that four. We’re coming in hot.”

“Roger that sir.” Lorne directed his men to new positions, half of them monitoring the Wraith in sight, half of them watching the approaching path. 

Dean got up on one knee, looking over the nearest soldier to get a look at what they were up against. Green skin, big monsters with girly white hair. “I’ve seen worse,” he said aside to Sam.

“I doubt that, son.” Carson said. Just then gunfire sounded to their rear and the Wraith started moving their way. Dean shifted his grip on his gun and got to his feet. As they drew closer the men around them started firing.

The nearest Wraith went down and Dean turned his attention to the next, raising his gun and tracking it. The man in front of him went down, dropping his P-90 at Dean’s feet. He didn’t hesitate, scooping it up and checking it quickly.

Dean!” Sam’s voice was urgent, and Dean looked up just as a large hand reached out for him. He shot at it, putting a bullet through what looked like a giant sucker, then turned the P-90 into it firing while it staggered backward. It went down and Dean reached behind him for Sam. 

“Doc, get those two to the gate and dial it up.” Lorne yelled. More of the men were down. Three that Dean could see. 

“You heard him lads, off you go.” 

“We can fight!” Dean insisted.

“Go!” Lorne yelled before turning his gun on an advancing Wraith.

Dean felt an overwhelming sense of John demanding the same thing and couldn’t fight that, stumbling away with Sam beside him, even as the Wraith he’d just dropped started to get back up. “What the fuck!” 

Sam was ahead of him, Carson behind him. There was gunfire and whatever those weapons the Wraith had being shot all over the place, then Lorne was coming their way, John and Ronon covering him and Teyla and Rodney as they all moved toward the gate. Ronon stopped to help up one of their men. Carson was dialing the gate and Sam…Dean turned around. “Sam?”

His heart stopped. The fucker had Sam. He raised his gun. Moved toward them. “Let him go.”

Sam looked woozy. His face marked with pain. The Wraith tossed his head defiantly. “Come no closer. I will kill him.”

Dean cracked his neck and stepped closer. “I bet I kill you first.”

It moved its hand from Sam’s chest. Blood oozed through the torn shirt. “Your little weapon is no match for me…not after tasting this.” It pulled Sam’s head back against its stomach. “I have not tasted anything so strong in centuries.”

“Dean.” Sam’s eyes lifted to his. He was hurting and scared. Dean didn’t like the way it made his stomach clench. John was coming, Dean could feel him, but it wasn’t fast enough.

“Let go of him.” That hand moved back over the wound in Sam’s chest. “I said, let go of my brother, mother fucker.” Dean shot, hitting it in the throat and it stumbled backward, Sam slumping forward. Dean advanced quickly, shooting over and over, following it as it fell over backward, emptying the clip into its face until there was nothing left in the gun and nothing left of the thing’s face.

He turned around, and Carson was cradling Sam in his lap. “He didn’t take much. He should be fine, but we need to get him back to Atlantis.”

John was staring at Dean, his face unreadable. Dean didn’t need to read his face though, the fury and guilt and stomach-wrenching was coming through loud and clear. Obviously he’d been close enough to hear. Dean shook his head, held up his hands. “Dial the gate.” John said roughly. He got to his feet and stalked toward Dean, but Teyla’s voice stopped him.

“We need to go now. There are more.” John grabbed Dean’s shoulder and shoved him toward the gate while Ronan supported Sam and Lorne and Carson helped two of the wounded.

Dean was disoriented coming out the other side, stumbling a little, but John held him up. Elizabeth was coming at them. “What happened?”

“Wraith ambush.” John said. “I’ll fill you in as soon as I’m sure Sam’s okay. You.” He poked at Dean. “Come with me.” They stalked toward the infirmary, watching as Carson worked on Sam. “In here.” John shoved Dean into the small conference room. 

“Look.” Dean started…but what could he say?

“You said brother.” John said, articulating each word. “You said ‘Let go of my brother’.”

Dean licked his lips. It was pretty clear that he needed to get this under control before John blew a gasket. “Stop. It’s…it’s not what you’re thinking.”

John stopped his pacing. “It’s not? You’re telling me that Sam isn’t your brother?” John rubbed his hands over his face and went back to pacing. “Of course he’s your brother. I should have seen it. You didn’t want him touching you. You didn’t want to touch him. No…I just forced you to.”

Dean sighed, hands on his hips, watching him pace, feeling the anguish that roiled around inside him. “No.” Dean said, but John didn’t hear him. “No,” he said a little more forcefully. “Stop and listen to me.”

John stopped. He looked at Dean, his disgust clear on his face. “Look. Sam and I…we…we’re not…like other people. I—god, I don’t even know how to explain it. Just…If it were, if you had forced us against our will, do you think either one of us would be talking?”

John just glared at him. Dean wiped his mouth. “It probably would have come to this eventually anyway. The way we were going we would have killed each other or fucked each other before the year was out.”

Dean paced to the door, watching Sam. “I fought it because I’m the oldest. I’m supposed to protect him, and I’ve protected him my whole life, even from me. But god help me, John, I love him so much.” Dean shook his head and turned to face John.

John’s face softened a little and he came toward Dean. “I’ll do anything for him. Anything.” Dean waited for him to speak, and he looked like he was going to, his mouth opening and closing several times. “Say something.” Dean held his breath.

“I’d be lying if I said I was completely okay with this.” John said finally.

Dean nodded. “I get that.”

“This is seriously fucked up.”

Dean nodded again. “I get that too.”

“We need to have a long conversation.” John said, looking over Dean’s shoulder. He blew out and shook his head. “Go be with Sam. I need to let Elizabeth know what happened.”

Dean watched him walk away, then went to Sam’s bedside. “How is he Doc?”

Carson sighed. “Well, for someone who just got fed on by a Wraith, he’s doing okay. We’re going to keep him here for now though, keep an eye on him.”

Dean nodded and pulled a rolling stool to him to sit on. His eyes were on Sam’s, watching him go from worry to panic to relaxing as he read the look on his face. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said aside to Carson who smiled.

“I didn’t expect you were.” Carson patted Sam’s shoulder and walked away.

“You okay?” Dean asked when he was out of earshot.

Sam nodded, though he still looked worried. “Dean…”

“It’s okay.”

“John didn’t look okay. He didn’t feel okay.” 

Dean squinted at him. “You felt that?”

Sam nodded. “He was upset. He’s freaked out. He’s all messed up about it.”

“It’s okay, Sam. I’m going to make it okay.”

“How Dean?”

Dean shook his head and raised his brother’s hand to his lips, kissing it lightly. “I don’t know. But I will.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I confess. This is mostly porn. I started out wanting to write plot, but all that came out was porn...and a wee bit of angst. Dean sets out to convince John that everything is a-okay.

“John, dude, you’re making me dizzy.” Dean watched him pace, right hand on his hip, left hand scratching his head.

“Don’t talk to me. I’m angry.”

“I can see that. You’re the one who said we had to talk.”

“How could you?” John stopped in front of Dean, raising both arms.

Dean settled back on the couch and looked up at him. For the first time since he’d been leashed he felt absolutely no sexual need from John at all. None. Just anger, betrayal, guilt…whole shitloads of guilt. “How could I what?”

John crossed his arms now and stared at him. “You should have told us.”

“Because that would have changed things how exactly?” Dean asked. 

“I wouldn’t have…made you…”

Dean stood, toe to toe, eye to eye. “You didn’t. The fucking collars did.”

“But I wanted—“

“And so did we.” Dean said. “This isn’t your fault.”

“He’s your brother.”

“I love him.” Dean replied, as if it was all the answer needed. “He’s all I have.”

“You know, in some cultures it isn’t uncommon.” Ronon said from his place on the other side of the room.

“No one asked you.” John answered.

Ronon chuckled. “The Marabi believe that it is the older brother’s duty to educate his younger brother in the ways of sexual gratification. The Hamarell believe that the love between two brothers is sacred and that the sexual union of two people closely related ensures a peaceful cycle.”

“I still didn’t ask you.” John paced around Dean, completing his circuit of the room. Dean followed him. He wasn’t going to beat him with words. He was going to have to convince the colonel another way.

Dean filled his head with an image of Sam…naked…John’s stride hitched, but he kept moving. Dean stopped, closed his eyes, concentrated. The Sam in his mind moaned. Dean added himself, sliding over Sam’s body, raising his arms above his head while Dean kissed him deep and slow. He heard John moan, felt him turn away, trying to shut off the arousal. Dean amped his own up, throwing a mental apology Sam’s way because he knew the poor guy was stuck in the infirmary feeling this. He licked his way over Sam’s chest, down his abdomen. 

John was moving toward him, but Dean turned away, trying to concentrate. In his mind he turned his attention to Sam’s cock, feeling it stir under his touch…rising to his attention as he kissed the tip, licked over the head. 

His own cock was perking up, pressing against the borrowed uniform pants he wore. He’d fought and denied this thing with Sam since his brother was fifteen…buried it so deep he’d forgotten it was even there…until Sam had told him he wanted him too. 

Now he abandoned his own guilt, his own misgivings, his own fear that this was only going to fuck them up further…because appeasing John’s guilt seemed more important. They needed John…and Dean was getting the impression that the technology implanted in them made it so they _needed_ John, needed to fulfill their “purpose”…

He felt the desire welling up in John. The Sam in his mind arched up, his cock thick and heavy and searching for Dean’s mouth. Dean obliged, closing his mouth over Sam. John’s hands were on him now, turning him. Dean opened his eyes as John’s lips found his, a wave of pure lust leaking out of him despite his attempt to hold it back. 

In his mind he sucked up Sam’s cock, while his real hand snaked to John’s rubbing it through his pants, drawing him deeper into the fantasy. “Want him.” Dean murmured, his head falling back to offer John his neck. “Want this.”

 

Sam sat up and squirmed. His whole body was alive with need…with…want. Dean was…horny as all hell. He got the distinct image of Dean laying him down, could almost feel his lips on his. Sam licked his lips, and swung his feet off the bed. 

“And where do ya think you’re going, young man?”

Sam looked up at Carson. “Dean…he needs me.” Sam panted. 

“You need to stay where you are.” Carson came forward, a chart in his hands. “You were fed upon. You need time to recover.”

Sam shook his head. “I’m fine.” Well, aside from the raging hard on that the thin cotton of the hospital pants did nothing to hide, he was fine. 

“I’ll sedate you if I have to.” 

“You don’t understand. It’s not…I have to.” He couldn’t explain it, but he knew.” He stood, taking a few steps to make sure he could move. “I _have_ to go.”

Carson frowned. “Sam, let me take a scan—“

“Later.” Sam went to the door. His mind flooded with Dean sucking his cock…John sucking Dean’s. He grabbed the door frame and breathed slowly. It was only in his mind, but his cock was ready to blow. He was never going to get all the way to the room. “Fuck.”

John joined the image again, behind Dean as Dean rose up, his cock sinking into Sam. John’s hand was on Sam’s cock now…pulling as Dean fucked him. Sam moaned and reached for his cock. “Fuck.”

“Sam?” Carson was there…right fucking there, and he was going to see. Sam doubled over. In his head John was fucking Dean, fucking Dean _into_ Sam, biting into Dean’s shoulder.

Dean’s voice was in his head, whispering his name and Sam came…right there in the doorway of the infirmary, right there in front of Carson, sliding slowly to his knees as it crashed through him.

“Are ya all right, Sam?”

He caught his breath and looked up, his hands trying to hide the mess he’d made in his pants. “Nothing killing my brother won’t fix.” Sam said through clenched teeth. 

“Let’s get you back to bed.”

“No offense, Doc.” Sam shook his head. “I think I’d rather get changed and go give Dean a reason to come enjoy your hospitality.”

 

Dean was starting to lose track of which sensations were fantasy and which were real. John’s cock was pushing into his ass, his mouth on Dean’s neck…but he was sprawled out under him too. Sam was sucking on Dean’s cock…though Sam wasn’t actually there. 

His knee hit the bed, gave him something to ground himself. He pressed his hands into the mattress and pushed back against John. John responded by pushing that much harder into him. 

Vaguely, Dean remembered Ronon was somewhere in the room, and his head exploded with images from John’s head of various parts of Ronon. Dean’s head came up, looking for the big man and finding him, sitting with his arms crossed and a bemused smile on his face.

Dean beckoned him, and Ronon raised an eyebrow. Dean looked at his crotch and obvious arousal and raised an eyebrow back. They stared at each other for a long moment, then Ronon lurched out of the chair, launched at them, turning them, pressing John’s back to the bed and pushing Dean down onto him. His kiss was fierce and strong, his teeth scraping Dean’s tongue while Dean’s hands loosened his pants.

John’s hands were on Dean’s hips, pulling him down onto his cock while his hips rocked upward. Dean fumbled with the pants until Ronon roared and ripped them off himself and came back at Dean, pulling his head back to suck on Dean’s neck.

Dean gasped for air, watching himself in his head, watching what John wanted. He pushed Ronon back and leaned forward, sucking the big man’s dick into his mouth. Ronon apparently approved, thrusting forward. 

 

Sam stumbled in the corridor, his cock already hard and dripping again. He was going to kill them both…all, he amended as Ronon joined the sensations and images in his head. 

He got to the end of the hall. He could see the door. He doubled over. His cock hurt it was so sensitive. He’d come again in the bathroom changing, and the doctor had been concerned, tried to keep him. “Fuck.” Sam panted around the newest urges, held his cock, squeezed it to hold it off. 

He staggered to the door and swiped his hand over the mechanism to open it. As it slide aside, he was hit with another wave of it, and that was before he saw them. 

Sam stepped inside quickly, closing the door. Other than that, he couldn’t move, just stand there and hold his cock. John was on one of the beds…on his back…his dick up Dean’s ass…and Dean, Dean was there, hands on John’s shoulders bracing himself as he leaned back, his legs thrown over John’s…spread wide and Ronon…Sam groaned as Ronon moved in, his cock slick with lube, his fingers pressing into Dean, opening him further…and fuck…he was…Sam held his breath as Ronon’s cock pressed in and Dean yelled, shaking.

Dean rose up off of John a little, and Ronon’s hand was pressing his cock to John’s and Dean was pushing back down, taking them both…and Sam just couldn’t take that, his orgasm ripping through him and dropping him to the floor with his hand around his cock.

Dean was yelling now almost without stopping, guttural noises filling in the spaces. Ronon and John thrust into him, their own noises filling the air. The room smelled of sweat and sex and Sam couldn’t think, could barely breathe around the sight of his brother rocked between the two men. 

“Sam.” It was a groan, a wanton moan and Sam looked up. Dean’s eyes found his and his head fell back as he came, covering Ronon’s chest with white sticky globs. John’s body stiffened as he thrust up and Sam knew from the look that he was coming. Ronon yelled and pressed Dean back onto John and he too came.

“Fuck.” John whispered, his eyes closing as his head fell back against the bed. 

“Gonna have to wait.” Dean said in response as Ronon backed off. He reached out a hand and Ronon helped him up, leaving John alone on the bed. His pants were still hanging around one ankle and his shirt was torn beyond fixing. Ronon hadn’t even taken anything off…and John…Dean wasn’t entirely sure where John’s pants had gone.

He reached for his ass, which was going to hurt for a very long time, then thought better of it, seeing as it was oozing come like a fucking volcano. “Shower.” He gestured, though he didn’t think anyone in the room was in any shape to respond. His steps were slow, his ass complaining with every one. He got to the bathroom and into the shower before he heard Sam. “Dean?”

“I’m okay, Sam.”

“Can I come in.”

“Yeah.” Suddenly Sam was in, not just the bathroom, but the shower. His cock was red and looked almost painful. “Sam?” His bad arm was stuck in the plastic sleeve the doctor had given him so he could shower.

“You just about killed me.” Sam said, turning them around so he could get under the water.

“What happened?” 

“Well, I woke up in the infirmary with a hard on so bad I couldn’t walk…and before I made it to the door I came in my pants.”

Dean stifled the laugh he felt coming. He knew it would only make Sam angry. “In front of the doctor.” Sam added, moving so Dean could get back under the water. “And then, I was in the bathroom getting changed and it happened again.”

And Dean has seen him in the room. “Three times Sammy? That’s pretty impressive.”

“It fucking hurts.” Sam pouted, his hands cradling his cock. 

Dean pressed him into the wall. “I could make it feel better.”

“Dean…I mean it.” Sam growled.

“Me too.” Dean purred, kissing his brother, licking over his lips until Sam relaxed a little and opened his mouth. His hand eased down Sam’s stomach, under the protection of his hands and slowly circled Sam’s cock.

“Dean.” Sam breathed the name into his brother’s mouth. “Can’t.”

“Can.” Dean whispered back, his touch gentle. He bit on Sam’s lower lip, sucking it in. His own cock was starting to harden, his ass clench. The skin on Sam’s cock was hot to the touch. Sam’s entire body went rigid when Dean flicked his thumb over the tip. Dean kissed him again, then sank to one knee, wrapping his warm, wet mouth around his brother, laving the whole sensitive shaft with his tongue. 

Sam’s hands reached for his head, then fell back against the wall. “Dean.” He was panting, whispering, whimpering. Dean was gentle, carefully mapping out the lines and curves of Sam’s dick with his tongue, kissing and licking until he felt the taste of his brother on his tongue. There was almost no fluid, but Sam slumped against the wall and Dean had to hold him up. 

“You okay there Sammy?” Dean asked. 

“No…I think you fucking broke me.”

Dean chuckled and finished washing. “This your grand plan for making this okay for them?” Sam asked as Dean stepped clear and let him under the water. 

Dean shrugged. “Something like that. Just give it time.” He wrapped a towel around his waist and left Sam to finish…only to nearly run John over.

They stared at each other for a minute, then Dean blinked and moved away. “Are you okay?” John asked, his voice softer than the expression on his face.

“Yeah, you?”

“I don’t know. The problem hasn’t gone away.”

“Near as I can tell your genius is still working on it.” Dean said. “Mind if I borrow a clean pair of pants?”

“Other problem.” John said, pointing Dean to a stack of clean clothes.

“Only problem I see is that we’re all still stuck wearing these damn collars and my car is in another galaxy.”

“I’m talking about you and Sam.”

Dean smirked and looked over at John. “Don’t worry about Sam…he’s not going to be getting it up any time soon. Me, on the other hand, I’m a regular horn dog. Can go right now if you want.”

John’s lips quirked up and his eyes drifted a little to the right. Dean got a brief idea of where John wanted to go before he clamped it down. “You know what I mean, Dean.”

“I do know what you mean. You can let it go. You can’t change it, we aren’t complaining.”

“It’s still wrong.”

Dean chuckled. “Like anything here is right?” He shook his head and moved toward John. “I’m a goddamn slave, John. Even if Sam weren’t here, even if he wasn’t tied to me through this fucking thing…” he pointed at his neck, “I’m still bound to you. I can’t leave, or I die. You can’t leave, or I die. That right there is pretty fucking wrong in my book. I’ve known you what? A week? A week, and every time you have a stray thought, I’m hard as a rock and can’t wait to let you fuck me. That’s pretty damn wrong.”

“Okay, you’re getting upset—“

“Upset? You haven’t seen upset yet. I’m not done.”

“You’re not?”

Dean shook his head. “No. I’m just getting started. You want to talk wrong? Sam and I finally start to fix this thing between us, hunting again, looking for Dad…and what? Fucking demon nearly kills us all…and Sam, he’s getting visions and Dad’s freaked the fuck out by it…and I’m laying in a hospital bed dying. But I’m not dead. No. Because my father made a deal. My father laid a load of bricks on me and gave himself up. Sold himself to the goddamn fucking son of a bitch we’ve been hunting for since I was four years old. You want to know what’s wrong John? It’s waking up every morning thinking it’s all a fucking dream only to realize that it’s real.”

Tears streamed down his face, and he wasn’t even sure when the cork came off that bottle, but he couldn’t stop. “Wrong is looking into Sam’s face everyday and telling him that I don’t know, that Dad didn’t tell me what he fucking told me. It’s knowing that I can’t keep a promise I made my father…because I love Sam too damn much to do it. Wrong is knowing that if we do go home, I will lose him…the same way I lost my mother and Dad. Wrong is knowing that he left in the first place because of me…and he came back because of me…” 

He was shaking, his face hot and wet. “But one thing that isn’t wrong in this fucked up life of mine is Sam, and what I have with him.”

It was quiet then, until Sam’s voice cut through the silence. “What did he tell you Dean?”

He looked up. Sam was crying too, crying and staring. Dean licked his lips and took a step toward him. “Sam—“

“What did he tell you about me Dean?”

“Please.” Dean held out his hand, silently imploring Sam to come to him, but Sam shook his head.

“Tell me.”

Dean went to Sam when Sam wouldn’t come to him. “I told him I would never tell you.”

“He’s not here. I am.”

Dean couldn’t look at him. He never wanted to say those words out loud. “He…told me to look out for you. Keep you safe.”

“And?”

“Please, Sam.”

“Dean. I swear, you tell me right now, or I’m walking out that door.”

“Said…he said that you might…that the demon might…make you…evil…that you might…”

Sam nodded tightly. “And the promise?”

Dean shook his head. “No. No Sam.”

Sam started for the door and Dean grabbed his hand. “Sam, please.”

“Tell me.”

Dean closed his eyes. “He made me promise that I’d kill you first.”

Sam pulled his hand free and just stared at him. Dean couldn’t begin to read the look on his face. He was painfully aware of Ronon and John being there, staring at them. “Say something.” Dean implored after the silence became unbearable.

“I expect you to keep that promise.” Sam said softly after a few minutes. “I’m gonna…get some air.” He pulled on a pair of pants that had been draped on the chair and left. 

Dean wanted to collapse, wanted to drink himself into oblivion. He turned slowly to John.

“I don’t suppose you want to explain that.” John said. “Demons? Evil?”

Dean rolled his eyes and rubbed his face. “Yeah. It’s what we do. Sam and me…my father, before he died.”

“What…exactly?”

“Hunt evil…demons, vampires, ghosts, werewolves.”

“Right.” John didn’t look very convinced. “I think maybe we should take you back to Dr. Beckett.”

“That’s rich.” Dean shook his head. “We’re standing in a floating city on a planet in another galaxy where you have monsters that suck the life out of you…but you can’t wrap your head around the concept of evil?”

“Oh, evil I get, Dean. Demons though? Vampires? Don’t exist.”

“Says the man who walks through a ring of water, flies ships with his mind and battles aliens who suck the life out of people’s bodies.” Dean said with a snort. “Trust me on this. It’s what we do.” He sighed and sat on the couch. “It started when I was four. There was…a fire. In Sam’s nursery. Our mother died.” He licked his lips and looked up at John who was still looking at him like he was crazy. “Look, I don’t do the whole talking thing often, so if you want to hear all the sordid details, this is it.”

John nodded. “Okay. I’ll listen.”

“I’m going to find Sam.” Ronon said as John sat and Dean started his story. 

He didn’t figure that Sam had gone far, with no shirt and no shoes. It didn’t take long to find him, on a balcony, leaning out to watch the waves. “You okay?” Ronon asked as he approached.

Sam sighed, but didn’t look up. “Sometimes I just wish people would stop asking me that.”

“It’s not every day that your brother tells you he’s gonna kill you.” Ronon responded, leaning his back against the railing. “Not everyday you tell him to do it either.”

Sam sighed again. “No. I suppose not. But I told you, we’ve never really been normal.”

“So what’s the story?”

Sam looked up at him, stood up straight and shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. “My father wasn’t really good with the talking thing, like Dean. I think he probably knew something. I don’t really know.”

“But he thought you’d go dark side on him?” Ronon asked. He eyed Sam, watching for something he might have missed before. He couldn’t see the kid going evil, even if he had a taste for some rough stuff.

“Yeah, well…sometimes I wonder.”

Ronon shook his head. “I don’t see it.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

“Nope. Besides, you’re here, your demon is there. I figure that makes you pretty safe.”

“I don’t know that safe is a word I’d use.” 

“Okay, one more question.”

“Shoot.”

“Visions?” 

Sam rolled his eyes and shoved his hands even deeper into his pockets. “Yeah…well…sort of. We think they were related to the demon somehow…I haven’t had one since we woke up in that cave.” He scratched at the wound left behind by the Wraith on his chest. “In fact, not since my Dad died.”

“So no way we’re stealing a jumper and heading to Empus Prime for a little fun at the Compu wheel?” 

Sam laughed. “I have no idea what you just said, but no…anything to do with visions is off the menu.” He shifted uncomfortably. “You think Dean’s done with his emo breakdown?”

“Emo breakdown?” Ronon straightened. “Is that what you call that?”

“That’s what he’d call it.” 

“I say we haul him down to the gym and beat him up.”

“Two on two? You and me against John and Dean?”

“If you’re up for it.” Ronon smirked as Sam bristled. He really liked this kid.

Sam stopped and turned to him. “Oh, I’m up…maybe we should skip them and just go at it ourselves.”

“You think you could take me?” Ronon punched him lightly and Sam punched back, then they were grappling and Sam had him up against the wall.

“I figure it’s my turn.” Sam said gruffly.

Ronon cleared his throat as someone passed and Sam backed off. “Your turn?” His hand grabbed Sam’s crotch and he smirked when Sam leaped back. 

“Yeah…just…not for a couple of hours, okay?”

 

“No. Elizabeth will never go for it.”

“Why not? We’re more than capable. You’ve seen for yourself.”

John sighed and sat next to Sam at the table in the mess hall. “I realize you are both good in a fight, can handle weapons better than at least one member of my team, but you aren’t military, you aren’t scientists, you have no practical experience…none that I can explain to her, anyway.”

“Come on, I know you’re getting bored babysitting us.” Dean prodded. “I’m going out of my mind sitting here.”

“You’re still under the influence of alien technology.” John said around a bite of his sandwich.

“Oh, and you aren’t?” Sam snorted.

“They are good in a fight.” Ronon said as he joined them.

“Not helping.” John replied.

“And they do have the gene, so they can learn to fly the jumper.” Rodney said, also joining them.

“Whoa, slow down there Bubba. I don’t fly.” Dean said, holding up his hands.

“Yet another reason you can’t come with us on missions.” John said. “And what is with you and flying.”

“Dude. I don’t fly.” 

“Never has.” Sam added. “He’s afraid.”

“That’s just something we have to fix.” John shook his pickle at Dean. “It just isn’t right.”

“I agree with Colonel Sheppard.” Teyla sat on Sam’s other side, setting her plate on the table. “It is not wise to take them on missions. Not when they’re connection to Colonel Sheppard could jeopardize their safety. Or ours.”

“Thank you Teyla.” John smiled at her. 

“You’ve gotta give us something.”

John put his sandwich down and looked at Dean. “Okay I’ll talk to her. But I guarantee you she’s going to say no.”

“All you can do is ask.” Dean responded, grinning.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Ronon spar, Elizabeth discovers the truth about the boys and Dean just wants to get laid.

Sam’s arm throbbed. It itched from the sweat that had dripped down inside the cast. He ignored it and concentrated on Ronon, on the way he moved, mimicking each step, each turn and each swing of his arms.

He could feel Dean’s appreciation for the way sweat dripped over their bodies, and the play of muscle and skin with the shadow and light. They moved through the last positions of the warm up and faced one another. 

Sam held his right arm low and near his stomach, his left up defensively as they circled. He’d told Ronon not to go easy on him because of the injury…and he hadn’t. Sam was going to have a few bruises. He ducked a blow and lashed out with a foot, catching the back of Ronon’s knee and dropping him to the mat unexpectedly. 

Sam lunged, getting the cast up under Ronon’s chin as he pressed his body against his bare back. Dean’s arousal went up a notch and with it, Sam’s cock hardened against Ronon.

Ronon chuckled, arching his back to put pressure on Sam’s dick and make him gasp. Sam re-adjusted his grip and resumed trying to press Ronon to the mat. He felt the minute John walked into the room, Dean’s arousal spiking off the charts in response to John’s arousal at the sight.

Ronon took advantage of the distraction and pulled Sam over his shoulder, tossing him to the ground panting. He looked up, surprise on his face. “Elizabeth.” 

Sam took advantage then, rolling up and latching onto Ronon’s neck with his ankles, flipping Ronon over and onto the mat before climbing up and pinning him there.

“Impressive.’ Doctor Weir said and Sam petted Ronon’s head, earning a growl and something about what he was going to do to him later, before Sam got up, grinning. 

He held his good hand down and helped Ronon up. “Wait until I get the cast off.” Sam grinned at Dean who threw him a towel.

“Elizabeth has agreed to test you two out, see what you’re capable of.” John said, looking at Sam meaningfully.

“Yeah?” Dean asked, standing and joining them.

“Colonel Sheppard tells me that he thinks you might be able to accompany him on certain missions, at least until we figure out how to remove the technology from your bodies.” She crossed her arms. “I’m not saying yes.”

“Yet.” John amended.

“So what do you want us to do?” Sam asked, wiping his face and chest of sweat.

Elizabeth fixed him with her intense eyes. “Well, it’s obvious you can handle yourself. Colonel Sheppard says you know you’re way around guns.”

“Yes ma’am.” Dean said, sounding a little over eager.

She nodded, turning those eyes on Dean. “That gives you an advantage over some of our team members. However, you don’t have security clearances. In fact we’re having difficulty verifying your identities back on Earth. If you’re serious, you have some questions to answer.”

“Questions?” Sam looked at Dean. They were going to end up having to come clean. And that was problematic. On Earth, they were wanted men. Fugitives from the FBI.

“We can start with you telling me why you lied.”

“Elizabeth?” John looked at her, stunned.

She crossed her arms, squinted at Sam. “You had to know we’d find out the truth.”

“We can explain.” Sam said, holding up a hand to quiet Dean. 

“Not here.” The expression on her face softened. “My office in one hour. The two of you.” She pointed to Dean, then Sam. “And Colonel Sheppard.”

“Yes ma’am.”

 

Sam stormed into the bathroom with Dean hot on his heels. “What are you thinking?”

Sam ignored him and turned on the shower. “Sam, dammit. Telling John is one thing, but this…this is suicide.”

“Then what Dean?” He turned and glared at him. “What? Either she hears the truth from us or all she gets is whatever list of crimes they’ve found. Or have you forgotten that whole thing where you’re wanted for murder?”

“Keep your voice down.”

“No. No. This is it Dean. You said it yourself, we’ve got nothing to go back to. We may never get to go home. And if we do, you think they’re just going to let us go?”

Sam pulled his pants off and stepped into the shower. “If we’re honest, completely honest, maybe they don’t lock us up.”

“Great. That’s just great.” Dean shook his head. “This is the goddamn military Sam. They’re not going to understand.”

“Dad was military.” Sam said.

Dean cringed. “Don’t bring him into this.”

The water turned off and Sam stepped out. “It’s not like we have a choice.”

That was true enough. Dean followed Sam out into the room and watched him dress. When he was done and had pulled a comb through his hair, Sam sighed and shook his head. “You ready?”

“Does it matter?” Dean grumbled, then gestured to the door.

John was waiting for them at the stairs up to Elizabeth’s office. 

Sam held up his hand as John opened his mouth. “I really only want to do this once.”

“Fair enough.” He led them into the office and Elizabeth beckoned them in. The doors sealed behind them, the glass going dark. 

Sam licked his lips, watching Dean pace the room. “Let me start by introducing us.” Sam said. “My name is Sam Winchester. This is my brother Dean.” 

Dean stopped his pacing and glared at Sam.

“By now, I imagine you’ve read all sorts of things about us. I imagine some of them are true.” He glanced at John. “I promise you, we are not criminals. Well, not in the sense that your information might suggest.”

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. “So you don’t wander the country digging up graves?”

Sam sank into one of the chairs. “No. That part’s true. But it isn’t what you think.” He chewed on his lip for a minute, then decided it was all or nothing. “We dig up graves in order to salt and burn the bones.”

“The bones?” Elizabeth’s face was skeptical, not that Sam blamed her.

“Dean and I hunt…the supernatural. Salting and burning the bones of a corpse is one way to get rid of an angry spirit.”

“Spirit?”

“As in ghost.” John said, his own face as skeptical as Elizabeth’s.

“I told you Sam.” Dean came close and leaned over his brother. “They aren’t going to believe us.”

Sam turned to him. “What would you rather do, Dean?” He turned back to Elizabeth. “Sorry. Our whole lives it’s been drilled into us that we do what we do and we shut up about it. We don’t talk about this stuff, except with other hunters.” 

“There are others like you?” Elizabeth asked.

“Well, no one is quite like us.” Dean said, smirking.

Sam sighed. “I know it’s difficult to believe. If I hadn’t lived the life I had I wouldn’t either. But we do hunt ghosts, vampires, demons. We fight evil. As lame as that might sound.”

“You might say we do what you do.” Dean said, finally sitting.

“Is that what you call murder?” Elizabeth asked, turning to look at Dean.

“That—that was a misunderstanding.” Dean said defensively. “I didn’t do it.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Okay so everyone says that. But I mean it.”

“We don’t kill people.” Sam said, placating Dean with a touch on his arm. “Not unless there’s no other choice. We exorcise the demon or we break the curse but we aren’t killers.”

“And yet, according to the St. Louis police department, Dean killed several women and faked his own death.”

“That wasn’t me.” Dean said.

“Dean, settle down.” Sam licked his lips. “It was a shape-shifter, a person with the ability to look like another person. He took Dean’s shape and nearly killed a good friend of mine. When the cops killed him, he still looked like Dean.”

“A shape-shifter?” John asked, looking meaningfully at Elizabeth.

Sam nodded. “Yeah, not the first we’ve ever seen…there are myths of all kinds all over Earth about them.”

“John?” Elizabeth watched him as he opened his mouth, then closed it again.

“I’d have to ask Rodney again, but there’s something in the Ancient database about shape shifters…I think.”

“So you believe them?”

John shrugged. He moved so that he was standing between them. “I can tell you this much, they’re telling you what they know to be the truth.” His hand fell on Dean’s shoulder. “I don’t think Dean could lie to me, even if he wanted to.”

Dean looked up at him as if that idea startled him. 

“Look, Dr. Weir, I know it’s a lot to take in, believe me. Our world must look as strange and unbelievable to you as yours does to us. And yet, here we are. Dean and I, we weren’t lying when we said we had nothing to go back to.” Sam reached out to touch Dean’s arm, letting the feeling flow through him and into John, knowing Dean would feel it. “We have each other, and nothing else. The truth is, back home we were running pretty close to empty. We have no way to prove Dean’s innocence. We have a demon on our tails who seems to have plans for me. And I can’t begin to guess what those are, and I don’t want to find out.”

Dean looked at him, blinked and turned to Elizabeth. “Compared to some of the things we’ve fought, you’re monsters are way less frightening. At least they’re mortal and can’t keep coming back at you.”

“I guess it comes down to whether or not you believe us.” Sam said. “Now, I know you aren’t comfortable with this whole slave thing we have going on, nor are we, but we are comfortable here, as a part of this. Obviously, we can’t go home without dying. And John can’t do his job if he has to sit here and babysit us.”

“Pre-law, Stanford.” Elizabeth said with a soft smile. “Let’s say I believe you, what is it you see yourselves doing here?”

“Well, we know how to shoot the bad guys.” Dean said.

“Lorne did say Dean did pretty well.” John said. “We could test them.”

“There is the concern about the Wraith. I’m not sure that putting Sam out there where they can get their hands on him is a good idea.”

“I can handle myself, ma’am.” Sam said. “Especially when I know what I’m up against.”

“Which, we didn’t last time.” Dean reminded. “We didn’t really know anything, did we? Woke up on some other planet in the middle of a fight.”

Elizabeth looked at both of them, then up at John. “It’s your team John. It’s obvious you trust them. Bring them up to speed. Test them. When you’re ready, we’ll find you a nice, safe mission to try this out on.” She sighed. “I’m going to have to find someway to explain this to Stargate Command.”

John smirked and patted both their shoulders. “You explained Ronon just fine. I have every confidence in you.”

“Demons and ghosts.” Elizabeth shook her head. “You don’t make it easy.”

Sam smiled and nodded. “No ma’am.”

 

“You’re healing quite nicely, young man.” Carson said as he scribbled notes. “I’ll have you out of here in just a bit. We’ll splint you up and send you on your way.”

“Thanks Doc.” Sam wiggled his fingers and did his best not to scratch at the drying skin. It was nice to be free of the heavy plaster. 

“Now, you won’t be able to take much pummeling in this splint, but you’ll have more mobility. Just don’t over use it.”

The nurse came in with the splint and helped Carson put it on. When she withdrew, Carson looked up at Sam. “Now, is there anything else we should talk about?”

Sam smiled. “No. I’m good.”

Carson raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms. “I’m your doctor, lad, you can tell me anything.”

“John told me you were tenacious.” Sam said. “I really am fine. We’re adjusting well. Now that we’re not in danger of passing out every time John walks away, he’s getting us our own rooms. We’re training. Dean’s even agreed to try a flight to the mainland.”

“And how are you adjusting to the technology?”

Sam shrugged. “It’s weird, but I almost forget what it was like when I couldn’t feel what Dean was feeling.”

“And Colonel Sheppard?”

Sam squinted at him, then remembered that Carson knew more than the others did that weren’t a part of the “inner circle”. “Oh, yeah. That. It’s good. No worries. He’s doing everything he can to make us comfortable.”

 

“I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this.” Dean said as John showed him into a room near his own. “I mean, Sam and me…the only time we haven’t slept in the same room was when he was away at school.”

“We have to be more careful now.” John said as the door closed. “Elizabeth knows you’re brothers, the others will find out soon enough.”

Dean moved further into the room and whistled low. “Damn.” The room was easily as big as some of the apartments they’d squatted in over the years. Nearest the door was a sitting area, with a leather couch and tables, opening out onto a balcony looking into the heart of Atlantis. Off to the right was the bedroom. 

“You like it?” John asked.

Dean nodded and walked around the room. “No big screen TV?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to come to my room for that.”

An image flashed through Dean of other things to do in John’s room and he chuckled. 

“Sorry about that.” John said. “I’m serious about the being careful. Right now the only people who know about…” He rolled his eyes and blushed. “…about the sex thing are you and Sam, me and Ronon and Teyla. We need to keep it that way.”

“The whole don’t ask, don’t tell thing?” Dean asked. “I get that. It’s not like I ever really considered myself gay, you know? Hot for Sam, sure. But that’s like something else.”

John stopped moving around the room and looked at him. “Wait, are you saying that I was your first…you know…?”

Dean frowned at him, half sure he should have already known that. Then again, it wasn’t like they’d done a lot of talking, and all in all it had only been about two weeks since they’re arrival on the Sagare’s planet. “Yeah, I mean…like I said.”

“I’m not sure what to say.” John said, scratching his head. “You were…so vehement about it.

“Well, I had these things fucking into me and I needed to get off. Instinct said you needed to do it.” He shook his head and threw himself onto the couch. “It was…well, different. And hot, in a totally fucked up way.”

He felt wariness and a vague disappointment coming from John. “And now?” John asked.

Dean licked his lips and grinned. “Well, Sam will tell you I’m a horndog. Like sex. Guess now that means you and Sam and the big guy. I’m okay with that.”

John raised an eyebrow. “Are you?”

Dean spread his legs and rubbed a hand over his groin. John groaned as if Dean were touching his cock instead. “This whole mind thing is kinda kinky.” Dean said. His fingers pushed his zipper down as John’s eyes rolled closed. “Once you figure out how it works…” He ran a finger up his cock.

John stumbled closer, his hands moving to his groin. “You shouldn’t start something…” John said as he stopped in front of Dean.

Dean licked his lips. “Like I said. I like sex.”

John stopped himself before he got his zipper open. “Are you sure this isn’t you trying to convince me you’re okay with this?” He asked.

“Like you said, how am I supposed to lie to you when you can feel what I’m feeling?” Dean asked. “What am I feeling, John?”

John swallowed. “You want…” Dean flooded his mind with images of sex, in every possible configuration he could imagine. John groaned and swayed on his feet. 

Dean watched him open his fly and stroke his cock, then Dean sat up. Maybe it wasn’t ideal or how he thought his life would go…but he wasn’t lying…he loved sex…and he was beginning to really like the taste of John’s cock. He opened his mouth and sucked it in, deep, slow. He closed his eyes and concentrated on really working it. 

It was almost surprising how much he wanted it to be good. He flicked his tongue at the base and hummed and John rocked forward. Dean pulled off with a chuckle. “Like that, huh?”

John looked down at him, nodding. “Oh, liked…yes.” 

“Good.” Dean went back to it, repeating the humming thing over and over until John grunted and half stepped back, coming quickly. Dean let it coat his tongue, looked up at John, showing it to him before purposefully swallowing it. It wasn’t his first choice, but he wanted the reaction, and got it. John moaned and his softening cock started to look up again.

“Colonel Sheppard.”

John reached for his earpiece. “Go ahead Teyla.”

“Major Lorne and his team are returning.”

“Good. I’m on my way.” John zipped himself up. “Lorne was doing recon on a Wraith installation.”

“You gonna leave me hanging?” Dean asked, pointing down to his still hard cock.

John grinned. “Hold that thought…I’ll be back.”

“Yeah maybe I just will hold that thought.” Dean closed his eyes and thought about Sam and John with Dean in the middle.

“No fair.” John called from the door. 

Dean licked his lips and imagined John going down on him. “Fair!” Dean yelled before letting the image drop.

He slumped back on the couch and toyed with himself almost idly. He wondered where Sam was. Or Ronon. He remember seeing Sam and Ronon going at one another through John’s mind. It was insane how hot it was, the two of them mammoth and strong and ripping at each other.

His cock hardened a little more. He wouldn’t mind a little of Ronon’s rough handling. Their sparring match had been hot. John was maybe a little too concerned about feelings and shit. Ronon just wanted to get to the good stuff. Kind of like Dean.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Dean get their first off-world mission. Dean is less than pleased with how it turns out. This leads to angry sex with Ronon.

“I think I like this.” Dean said, turning to admire himself in the mirror in Sam’s room. Sam snorted and finished lacing up his boots. 

“Never pictured you in a uniform.” Sam said, crossing to stand beside him. They were both decked out in standard Atlantis uniforms, less weapons that they would pickup on their way to the gateroom.

“Dad would flip.” Dean smirked and turned to run a hand down Sam’s shoulder. 

“John’s brain is going to short circuit when he sees you in this.” Sam whispered, tugging Dean in to kiss lightly.

“He’s just going to have to learn to control himself, won’t he?” Dean turned back to the mirror, grinning at Sam.

Sam rolled his eyes and turned toward the door, only to find Ronon standing in the doorway. “Sheppard sent me to find you.”

Dean frowned at the big man. “Why don’t you have to wear the uniform?”

Ronon grinned. “Because I look better in leather. You ready?”

Sam nodded. “Yep, let’s do this.”

The three of them headed for the control room, where the rest of the team was waiting with Elizabeth. “Now, let’s see if we can handle a quiet diplomatic mission without coming back married or with any more slaves, or…you know, dead.” Elizabeth said with a smirk as Teyla handed weapons over to Sam and Dean.

“I have never come back from a mission married.” John said defensively. 

“Dial the gate.” Sam watched as Elizabeth backed off and the lights around the gate lit up. He blew out slowly as the gate wooshed to life, then John was headed toward the ring of water and this was it. 

Dean was nervous beside him…not as bad as if they’d been in a jumper, but nervous. Who knew what waited for them on the other side? Sam took a deep breath and followed Dr. McKay’s back, hesitantly stepping through the ring.

It tingled and Sam was slightly disoriented on the other side. He stepped clear and dragged in a breath before raising his eyes to look around them. They might have stepped off a plane in New Mexico.

The ground was red dirt and rock, with scrub brush dotting the landscape and a wide trail leading away from the gate and over a ridge. Dean’s hand touched his arm and Sam felt him trying to shake off the effects of his own nervousness. “That was different.”

“Come on you wuss.” Ronon clapped Dean on the shoulder and pushed past them. 

Teyla paused to make sure they were okay. “The village is not far, over the ridge. The people here are very friendly.”

“Right, like the Sagare.” Dean muttered.

They set off to follow Ronon and Sheppard.

“Why are we here again?” Dean asked as they topped the ridge and looked down at a village that seemed to come from the stone age. Stone huts with thatched roofs, children running around in next to no clothes. 

“Food. We offer medicines in exchange for foraging rights. They have these fruits…maga…manga….” John gestured at Teyla.

“Margalo.” Teyla said. “It is a plant that grows in the dry climate, produces a water-rich fruit. It is very potent. A single fruit can sustain a grown man for two days.”

“Makes a great pie too.” John added. He raised a hand in greeting as two people came out of the village toward them.

“And they needed you to do this…why?” Dean asked.

“Colonel Sheppard is well liked by the people here.” Teyla offered. 

Sam felt a surge of arousal from Dean. “Do they all look like her?” Dean asked as a woman joined the two men speaking with John. She was topless, though her dark hair covered most of her naked breasts. Sam grabbed his arm as Teyla rolled her eyes and headed toward John.

“Down boy.” Sam said with a smirk. “Diplomatic relations, not a booty call.”

“I can be diplomatic.” Dean protested.

Sam chuckled. “Yeah, that’s diplomacy I’m feeling.”

“What? Just because I’m okay with the guys doesn’t mean I don’t still want the girls.” Dean said, his eyes wandering the other people in the village.

“Dean, our first mission. Keep your dick in your pants.”

A leather ball came hurtling toward them from out of a group of kids, stopping at Dean’s feet. Two of the kids approached slowly, a little shyly. Dean scooped the ball up and stepped toward them. “This yours?”

The little girl smiled toothlessly up at him, her eyes sparkling. “You’re new.”

Dean grinned. “Yes, me and my brother here are just joining Colonel Sheppard’s team.”

“You’re very pretty.”

Dean blushed bright red and handed her back the ball. “You are too.”

“Do you want to play with us?”

Sam watched as she took his brother’s hand and led him off to the group of kids. He shook his head and turned to see Ronon watching, his arms crossed. “Huh. That’s Dangi. Normally its me she wants to come play.” Ronon said.

“She thinks Dean is pretty.” Sam said.

“Well, she has good taste.” Ronon responded.

“So…what next?”

Ronon rolled his eyes. “Sheppard and Teyla negotiate. Rodney’s fixing a generator we gave them. We wait.”

Sam sighed. “Dr. Wier wasn’t kidding when she said a safe mission.”

“What’s the matter? You bored?”

Sam rolled his eyes. “I just…expected more.”

“I could show you around.”

“Yeah?”

Ronon shrugged. “Not much to see.”

“Better than standing here watching Dean play with the kids.” 

 

Ronon was right that there wasn’t much to see. There was the village itself, a graveyard…of sorts. Apparently the people’s funeral rites seemed to consist of laying out the bodies for the animals and elements. It made him twitch to see so many bones laying open. 

Sam stood by a marker that seemed to list the names of the dead, staring at the bones stretched out around them. “They just…leave them like this?”

“Weird, huh? They believe that it allows their souls to journey to the afterlife.”

Sam nodded and squatted next to the nearest remains. “Where I come from this is a recipe for a haunting.”

“You really believe in ghosts.” Ronon said, as if he’d thought all along that they were joking about the ghosts.

“Well, when you’ve had your ass kicked more than once, you tend to start believing.” He sighed and stood. “The ghosts aren’t as bad as other shit though.” He dusted his hands and looked back the way they’d come, toward the village. He was feeling decidedly antsy. Something was…not right. “We should…head back.”

Before he could say anything else, three ships raced over head and screaming could be heard. He and Ronon took off at a dead run. The village was in disarray, people screaming and running, mothers scooping up their children. Teyla and John came running at them.

“Wraith.” John said when they were close enough.

“Recon?” Ronon asked, his eyes searching the sky. 

“Well, they haven’t been here in years.” John said. “Where are Rodney and Dean?”

“Dean was playing with the kids.” Sam pointed, then set off at a run, his stomach twisting.

“Sam! Wait!” He could hear John calling, but he kept running, had to see Dean, had to know he was okay. Kids ran past him. Sam skidded to a halt when he saw Dean running toward him, the little girl in his arms. Two of the three ships raced over them, beams of light tracking over the ground. Sam blinked as the light hit two of the kids and they disappeared. 

“Get out of the way.” Dean yelled, plowing into Sam and knocking them to the ground, just out of reach of one of the beams of light. The girl’s face was wet with tears and kind of pale. “She’s hurt.” Dean said, pulling her closer to him and turning her so Sam could see the gash in her side. “She fell.”

Sam felt John’s concern. He was coming toward them. “We need to get under cover.” Sam said, pulling himself up and helping Dean to his feet. 

They rejoined their team, just as Rodney did as well, his face red and sweating. A woman raced up to Dean, grabbing at Dangi. “She’s hurt.” Dean said again.

“I am her mother,” the woman said, her fingers tracing over the wound. Dean nodded and handed her off. “She will be fine.”

“What was that?” Sam asked John who made a face. 

“Darts, Wraith fighters. They were probably scouts. Means there’s a hive ship in neighborhood, looking to cull.” John scratched at his head and looked around them. “Okay, let’s see what the council wants to do.” He turned them back toward the village center. “You two stick close.”

 

Dean hovered at the edge of the conversation, his eyes on the sky. Ronon had explained that the light beams sucked the people up into the ships, so that they could take them back to be fed from. 

He wasn’t keen on that idea, and he couldn’t really be a part of the conversation, so he watched. Behind him, John and Teyla argued with the village elders about how to respond. Dean held his gun a little tighter, imagining he heard approaching ships.

He could feel John’s bubbling frustration. Obviously the village elders didn’t want his help. Dean glanced over his shoulder. John’s face was pissy and pinched. “Back to the gate. Ronon, on point.”

All around him the village was gathering belongings, heading off to some hiding place in the hills south of them. “We’re just leaving?” Dean asked, walking at John’s side.

“They don’t want our help.” John said.

“What’s going to happen to them?” Sam asked, looking over his shoulder at the retreating villagers.

“With any luck they’ll make the caves before the hive shows up.” They reached the top of the ridge and Ronon was dialing the gate. It connected, just as more ships started zipping overhead. “Run.” John pushed them and they set off running for the gate, sprinting through. “Shut it down.” John yelled as he stopped beside Dean. “Shit.”

“Colonel Sheppard?”

“Wraith darts showed up. The villagers headed for the caves.”

“Any reason to believe it had something to do with our being there?”

John shook his head. “No. Looked like scout ships looking for a culling.”

“Other systems in the area have been culled recently.” Teyla said. 

Dean unbuckled his gun. He was annoyed. Obviously they had better weapons than those villagers, and they could have fought off the Wraith. Instead, they’d run like cowards and left the villagers to die. Dean didn’t want to stick around and listen to them rehash the bogus reasons why. He handed off his gun and stormed away, heading for his room, unzipping his vest as he went.

“Hey.”

Dean didn’t stop, even when Ronon’s hand descended on his shoulder. “Stop.”

“No.” Dean swiped his hand over the door mechanism and pulled away from Ronon.

“Nothing we could do.” Ronon offered, following Dean into the room.

“Whatever.” 

“You’re pissed.”

Dean pulled his vest off and threw it onto the bed. He was pissed. “I don’t like it.” He paced a little, shaking his head. 

“They had a good head start. They’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that.” Dean felt the anger building. “You can’t tell me those kids are safe right now.”

Ronon crossed his arms and leaned on the wall. “No. I can’t.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“We do what we can, Dean.”

“Don’t give me that shit.”

“Okay, I don’t like it either.” Ronon pushed off the wall and stalked toward him. “But it doesn’t help to get angry about it.”

“No? What does?”

Ronon crowded him up against the dresser. “Working off the anger.”

Dean swallowed. “Got something in mind?”

Ronon leaned in close. “I’m wondering if it’s just your brother who likes it rough.”

Dean raised an eyebrow. “Rough?” He reached for the bigger guy, grabbed a handful of dreadlocks and dragged him closer. “I give as good as I get.”

“Wouldn’t want it any other way.” Ronon responded, his own big hand fisting in the back of Dean’s collar. They grappled for a few seconds, each trying to get the upper hand before Ronon won, his mouth closing over Dean’s, his tongue pushing into his mouth.

Dean used his distraction to get a foot between Ronon’s, kicking the back of one knee and dropping him. Dean followed, falling on top of Ronon and straddling him, pressing their groins together. Ronon was already hard, and Dean wasn’t far behind. 

Dean had both of his wrists and was trying to maintain his leverage, but Ronon got them rolled and he rubbed his cock against Dean’s until Dean groaned. “You’re easy.” Ronon said with a laugh, pulling at Dean’s shirt.

“But I’m not cheap.” Dean responded, reaching for Ronon’s pants. He got the laces loose and stuck his hand in side, grabbing and squeezing.

“Yeah?” Ronon was panting, struggling with the zipper on Dean’s pants.

Dean could feel John’s response to the intensity of his arousal, and Sam…and they were both coming toward them. “Come on. Faster.” Dean lifted his ass as Ronon got his zipper down, urging him on. 

Ronon’s hand fisted around Dean’s cock, pulling as Dean hissed. “That all you got?” Dean asked, pushing up into Ronon’s hand. 

“Fuck.” John’s voice slid into the room, even as Dean felt him and Sam at the door.

Dean’s pants were around his knees and Ronon was pressing his knees up to his chest. Dean got a good impression of how it looked from John. “Come on.” Dean growled, his hands closing on Ronon’s hips and pulling him in.

Ronon growled too and fucked into Dean hard, his face scrunched up with the effort. John was panting, and Dean got the feeling that Sam was unzipping him. He angled his head to get a look. Sam was behind John, his back to the door, his hand down John’s pants. Dean gritted his teeth and angled his hips into Ronon. His own cock twitched with the echo of Sam’s hand on John’s. 

Long before he was ready for it, Dean was coming, cussing and grabbing at Ronon. He wanted more…he wanted harder and longer and just…more. Ronon roared as he came, and pulled out of Dean.

John was leaning back against Sam, Sam’s eyes met Dean’s over John’s shoulder. Dean pushed himself up, crawling over the floor, Ronon’s come oozing from his ass. He took John’s cock from Sam, sucked it into his mouth. John hissed and Dean saw his hand was behind him, between him and Sam.

Sam’s eyes rolled closed and John thrust forward, coming quick and hard. Sam yelled as he followed along, his cock still in his pants.

“Feeling better?” Ronon asked as Dean set about trying to get his pants back up.

Dean looked at him and slowly shook his head. “I’m just getting started.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Dean are adjusting to life on Atlantis, and Sam at least is genuinely happy. Until an old friend comes to call.

“No offense, Doctor. I just don’t see the need—“ Sam sighed and sank into the chair, looking anywhere but at the petite blonde psychiatrist. 

“It’s okay Sam. I get that a lot. I just want to check in, see how you’re adjusting to life here on Atlantis.”

Sam shrugged. “Well, it’s different.”

She pressed her lips together and leaned forward. “How are you getting along with Colonel Sheppard and the rest of the team?”

“John’s great.” Sam relaxed and stretched his long legs out. He had to be careful here…even if Sam and Dean’s secret were out and in the open, there were other ones to consider keeping. “He’s really worked hard at making us feel welcome. Ronon too.”

“What about Teyla and Dr. McKay?”

“I haven’t dealt with Dr. McKay much. He seems…well, he’s fine, I guess. Teyla though. I don’t think she likes us much.”

“Why do you say that?”

Sam frowned and shook his head. “She’s made it very clear that she didn’t like the idea of John buying us, for any reason.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

Sam cocked his head to the side. “About her not liking us, or…”

She smiled softly. “About Colonel Sheppard buying you.”

“I was a little freaked out at first, you know? It isn’t something you expect. But neither is touching a mirror and ending up in a different galaxy.”

“Your brother does that too.”

“Does what?” 

“Deflects. If he can’t use humor, he shrugs it off.”

Sam nodded. “We grew up different than most folks, we…deal. We cope. We adapt.”

“You adapt to being slaves?”

Sam crossed his arms. “You got to admit, it could be worse. I mean as ‘masters’ go, John’s a pretty good guy. And look at this place.”

“As I understand it you and your brother are physically unable to return home?”

“Unless we want to keel over and die as soon as the gate closes.” Sam said, shaking his head. “I get where you’re going. There isn’t all that much to go home to. Our parents are both dead. We don’t have a home, unless you consider a ’67 Impala home. We don’t have much in the way of friends, and a big long list of really nasty enemies…so, give me the choice, and I’d like say this place beats home, hands down.” He looked up at her. “Even with the alien technology and slave thing and life-sucking monsters.” He grinned. “Well, that last part isn’t all that different from home.”

 

Almost two months. Dean watched Sam laughing with a group of science geeks at a table in the cafeteria. Really laughing. He was relaxed, comfortable.

There were days Dean still chaffed at the whole idea. Admittedly, they didn’t come often anymore. Not when he got to see Sam smile like that. A smile that gutted Dean. Three hundred mega-watts of Sam. Pure and simple.

Everything else could take a back seat as far as Dean was concerned. He turned his eyes back to John, realizing the Colonel had been talking to him while he stared at his brother.

“I’m just saying…we got proof our bad guys exist…but so far, you haven’t shown us squat.”

Dean knew John was just trying to get a rise out of him, they’d been playing at it for days. “You want proof?” Dean asked. “I can show you proof. Just not here. Take us back to Earth for a few days. I’ll show you all the proof you can handle. Just…make sure you’re sure, because fear and shit makes you a ripe target for demons looking for a meat suit.” He bit into his apple and looked back at Sam.

“I’ve got some leave stacked up.” John said, leaning in toward Dean. 

Dean flicked his gaze back to John. “You’re serious.”

John shrugged. “Maybe. Could be fun.”

“Fun. Fun, the man says.” Dean rolled his eyes.

“What’s fun?” Sam asked as he rejoined them.

“Our master here thinks it would be fun to go back to earth and hunt up some demons.”

“Are we back on that?” Sam asked, snagging potato chips off John’s plate. 

“He thinks it’s time we offer him proof.”

Sam shook his head. “What, you don’t have monsters enough in your own world?”

“I’m just saying…it could be fun.”

“Yeah, until you’re pinned against the wall having the life choked out of you while the damn thing monologues about how evil it is and how pathetic you are…and the only thing that’s going to save you is on the table across the room.” Sam said, sitting next to Dean. “Or, until it’s found its way inside someone you care about and you know you should kill it…you know, but you can’t because he’ll die too.” Sam’s voice just sort of trailed off, his face turned away, resting on Dean’s shoulder.

“Colonel Sheppard, please report to the gateroom.”

“That’s my cue.” 

Dean turned to Sam after John was gone. “Hey. You okay?”

Sam nodded, then raised his head. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s okay.”

“Hey, Doctor Beckett cleared me for full contact. Want to see if we can round up Ronon for a little sparring?”

Dean raised an eyebrow, and Sam rolled his eyes as he felt the arousal that swept through Dean. “Sparring, eh? I’m always up for a little…sparring.”

“You are incorrigible.”

“But I’m adorable.”

 

He was sweaty, sticky, and more than a little sore, but he threw himself at Ronon, twisting away from his hands and dropping to the floor, bringing the big guy down and nearly getting him pinned before he broke free. Ronon was laughing as Sam got back to his feet and Dean circled in, the two brothers working in tandem against him.

Sam bounced on the balls of his feet, watching for his opening. He almost didn’t notice the first tingle of it. Like a vague memory…a distant flutter in his right temple, a flash of light.

“No.” 

Sam grabbed at his head and turned away, stumbling before going to one knee. Dark, faces, voices. Black eyes. Blood. Demon. It ripped through him, like a knife raked through his temple and behind his eyes. 

He could feel Dean’s hands, pulling at him. He could almost hear his voice, frantic and tinny in the absence left behind. Sam was panting, his nose bleeding. He looked up at Dean, still holding his head. 

“Sam?”

He dragged in air and nodded, shifting so he was sitting on the ground. 

“Was that…”

Sam nodded again. 

“What? Why? How?”

“Dean. Give me a minute.”

“What was that?” Ronon asked, squatting now beside Sam.

“That was a vision.” Dean said, rubbing Sam’s shoulder lightly.

“Looks painful.”

“Yeah. It really is.” Sam held up his hands and Dean backed off. “I’m all right.” He had caught his breath and was trying to parse through the images. “It’s a mess though. People I don’t know, places I’ve never seen.” He looked at his brother and winced at the fear in his eyes. “I think…maybe…”

Dean nodded. “You guys might get your demon hunt after all.”

 

Sam stood on the balcony watching people pass by underneath him. He was fairly certain that the man he saw in his vision was wearing an Atlantis uniform. Dean was pacing behind him.

“Why don’t you go…do something.” Sam said in frustration, glancing over his shoulder. He froze. Behind Dean in the walkway. “Dean.” Sam hissed. “That’s him.”

Dean turned. “Who?”

“The one arguing with McKay.”

“You’re sure?”

The man in question turned and looked at them. “Yeah…pretty sure.” Sam said as he started toward them, his eyes turning black.

“Kavanah, get back here I wasn’t—“

“Sammy Winchester…there you are.” 

Dean launched himself at the man, but the demon pushed him and McKay away. “Isn’t this uniform just a kick in the ass?” 

Sam was pinned against the railing as the demon reached for him. “Kind of a turn on, don’t you think?”

“Meg?” Sam inched away, but the hand closed on his throat.

The man’s face grinned. “Not anymore…she died, remember? You killed her…when you sent me back to hell.” He dragged Sam closer. “Which I intend to thank you for very soon.”

Someone had obviously seen the altercation, there was yelling and John’s voice. “Stand down, Kavanah. Let him go.”

His head cocked to the side, looking back over his shoulder at John. John went flying, but Ronon’s gun filled the space, tagging Kavanah and forcing him to drop Sam. He grinned. “I’ll be seeing you, Sammy.”

With that, he pitched over the railing, landing on his feet and taking off at a run into one of the side corridors.

“Sam!” Dean came flying at him.

“I’m okay.” Sam dusted his hands over his ass as he stood.

 

Dean leaned over the rail, trying to see where the demon had run. “Fuck.”

“Security, lock down the city. I want full containment. Start sweep in the tower with stunners. Kavanah should be stunned on sight.” John stalked over to them. “You two alright?”

Sam nodded. “That thing will kill anyone or anything. It won’t care.”

“And it won’t stay put. It might already be on the move.” Dean added. 

“Move?” Ronon asked as he joined them. 

“Different bodies.” Sam explained. “It doesn’t need much of an opening. Fear, anger, arrogance.”

“Great.” Ronon shook his head. “That’s half the science department.”

“So, how do we kill it?” John asked.

“You? Don’t.” Dean responded. “We’re going to need to trap it.”

Sam nodded. “Makes me wish we hadn’t left everything in the car that day.” He looked up at John. “It’s going to want to get back through the gate, get reinforcements. We need to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“I need chalk, paint, something.” Dean snapped his fingers. John looked startled.

“Why?”

“Devil’s trap.” Dean said, as if that answered the three hundred questions Sam saw in John’s eyes. Dean was already walking away, muttering and making lists. “You people have a priest here?”

“A priest?” John was jogging after him.

Sam shook his head and Ronon clapped a hand to his shoulder. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I will be. Just as soon as we find this son of a bitch.” 

Ronon grinned. “Now, that’s a plan I can get behind. Come on. Let’s do some hunting.”

 

“Colonel Sheppard, do you want to explain to me what this is?” 

“This, Elizabeth, is a devil’s trap.” John said smugly, crossing his arms and gazing down on Dean who was putting the finishing touches on the mark. 

“And why exactly is Dean painting it on the floor of the gateroom?”

“To trap a demon.” John responded.

“Of course. Why didn’t I know that?” Elizabeth’s smile was strained. 

John sighed and turned to her. “Sam and Dean think that the…demon…was looking for them and that it will try to return to earth to gather reinforcements.”

“Remind me again why we’re convinced they aren’t crazy?”

“Because I saw Kavanah, of all people, jump off that balcony and run away?”

“We have encountered alien technology and even life forms that could account for that.”

“I know. I know.” John looked at her, then down at Dean. “I’m inclined to believe them though…or at least, give them the benefit of the doubt.”

“Colonel Sheppard, we found Kavanah.”

John touched his earpiece. “Good work Major Lorne. Where are you?”

“En route to the infirmary, sir. He is unconscious and it looks like his legs are broken.”

Dean looked up at him and hitched his thumb toward the infirmary. John nodded at him. “I’m on my way.” 

 

Sam met Dean at the doors to the infirmary, already shaking his head. “It’s jumped.”

“You’re sure?”

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. “I’m not the one who got thrown into the wall this morning. Check for yourself if you like.”

Dean sighed explosively and ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry. What do we do now?”

“Hell if I know.” Sam looked up as John joined them.

“Well, judging from the frustration rolling off of Dean, I expect our bad guy got away?”

They both nodded. “I still think it’s going to try for the gate.” Dean said.

“What I don’t get is how it knew.” Sam shook his head. “I mean…how would it have even known to look?”

“Maybe it was just dumb luck.” Dean offered. 

Sam shook his head. “No. It was Meg….the demon that was in Meg. It knew us.”

“Which means that if it gets back, old Yellow Eyes will know where to find you too.” Dean said, his face tight and his jaw clenched.

 

“This is everything?” Dean asked, staring down at the bed.

“Everything we could find.” Sam answered, looking up from cataloguing the array. “We’ve got five rosaries, a half dozen crosses, a Catholic prayer book, salt. John’s rounding us up some iron.”

The door slid open and Ronon filled the space, looking down at the line of salt, then up at them. “Keeps evil out.” Dean said.

Ronon smirked. “Sure it does.” He stepped over the line. “My gun didn’t even slow it down, but a little salt is going to stop it?”

Dean shrugged. “Never said demons were logical.”

“Sheppard and Weir want to see you.” He gestured with his head and Sam tossed Dean a rosary as they headed for the door. They followed Ronon to Weir’s office.

“You saw what Kavanah did.” John was saying to Rodney.

“Yes, I saw. That doesn’t mean I’m going to start believing in demons.” Rodney said, rolling his eyes when Sam and Dean came into the room. “I am a scientist. There is a logical, reasonable explanation. Religious symbols and lines of salt are superstition at best. Ridiculous at worst.”

“Hey Rodney.” Dean said suddenly. “Catch.” He threw the rosary, smirking as Rodney caught it, then looked at it with a frown.

“Very cute.”

“Just checking.” Dean snatched it back and muttered “Christo,” under his breath just to be sure.

“Would you stop that?” Rodney’s voice leveraged up a notch in pitch.

“Sorry if I’ve offended your scientific sensibilities.” Dean said with a snort. “But there’s a demon in this city with its sights set on my brother, and its killed before.”

“Dean, we just want to be sure—“

“That we aren’t crazy, right?” Sam interrupted Elizabeth. “Believe me, we understand. We aren’t asking you not to do anything you would normally do if this were…an alien…or something.”

“Right.” Dean flopped into one of the chairs. “You do what you do. We’ll do what we do. And we keep that thing from getting off Atlantis.”

“For now, that’s what we intend to do.” Elizabeth said, folding her hands. “Now, we called you up here because we’ve had a chance to talk to Kavanah.”

“If one can call it that.” John interjected, coming to lean against the desk. “He doesn’t remember much. He’d gone back to Earth for his sister’s wedding. He got to the SGC, reported in, and everything after that is black, until he woke up in the infirmary.”

Sam scrunched up his face. “He’s lying.”

Elizabeth sat back like he’d hit her. “Excuse me?”

Dean shook his head. “Demons…they push the consciousness down, subdue it, but they don’t repress memory. In fact, they get off on the idea that the person will remember all the evil, sick things it did with their body…provided it doesn’t plan on killing the body when it doesn’t need it any more.”

“What’s this Kavanah like?” Sam asked.

Rodney snorted. “Arrogant, self-centered, with a modicum of talent.”

“Rodney.” Elizabeth’s tone was chastising.

“What? He is.”

“So you think he’s lying to protect himself from things the…demon…made him do?”

“This demon is a freaking pervert.” Dean’s head cocked. “Not that they all aren’t, but this one? If he’s straight, I guarantee she went after guys. If he’s timid, she made him aggressive. If he’s aggressive, she made him more so…or stripped him naked and offered him up to the biggest, baddest boy she could find.”

Both Sam and Dean looked at Ronon, then at each other.

Elizabeth cleared her throat. “She? You said she.”

“The first time we met this particular nasty she was in a woman named Meg.” Sam offered. 

Dean watched Ronon move slowly to the door and even slower slip his gun from its holster. Dean stood, gesturing at Sam to keep talking. There was a woman, circling the devil’s trap, looking for a way around it. “Wait until she’s on this side, your shot should knock her into the trap.” Dean said softly. 

Ronon nodded. He held the gun ready and they waited. All pretense at conversation had ended behind them. The woman looked up, her eyes black. Ronon shot, hitting her square in the chest. She stumbled backwards, directly into the trap.

“Fuck!” 

Dean was out the door and down the stairs, with Ronon and Sam only slightly behind him. “Got you now bitch.”

“I’m going to enjoy licking your bones clean, Dean.”

“Temper, temper.”

She flew at Dean, only to get knocked back to the floor.

“Katie?” Rodney tried to push past Dean. “Katie, what are you doing?”

“Get back, McKay.” Dean shoved him at Ronon. “Control him. Sam?”

“Yeah, just a second.” He was flipping through the small book. “Got it.” He licked his lips. “DEUS, cui próprium est miseréri semper et párcere: súscipe deprecatiónem nostram; ut hunc fámulum tuum, quem (hanc fámulam tuam, quam) delictórum caténa constríngit, miserátio tuæ pietátis cleménter absólvat.”

Katie screamed and shook.

“Stop it. What are you doing?” Rodney pulled away, but Ronon held him. 

“It’s called an exorcism.” Dean said.

“I’m going to fucking kill you.” Katie growled, her eyes filled with black, her voice rumbling.

“Katie?”

“Ne reminiscáris, Dómini, delicta nostra, vel paréntum nostrórum: neque vindíctam sumas de peccátis nostris. Pater noster secreto usque ad”

She screamed, writhing on the floor now as Sam read. “Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti Deus, per ómnia sæcula sæculorum.”

Katie’s head fell back, her mouth opened and the dark, inky mass spewed out of her, filling the air above the trap before sinking into the ground. Ronon let go of Rodney, who went to Katie’s side. Dean turned to Sam. “Nicely done.”

“I’ve had practice.” Sam said with a grin. “I’m just glad someone had this.” He held up the book. “Since we don’t have Dad’s journal and stuff.”

“Where do you suppose it went?” John asked, his head cocked as they stared at the painted symbol on the floor.

“Well, back home, we’d say hell. Here? I don’t know.” Sam said. 

“But it’s gone from here. And that’s what matters.” Dean said. “It can’t get home, Yellow Eyes can’t come here. Sammy is safe.”

“For now.” Sam amended. “Sammy is also dead on his feet. I’m going to bed.”

“I think that sounds like an excellent idea.” John agreed.

Dean’s body tingled. Bed maybe, but Dean doubted he’d be getting much in the way of sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Dean and John and Ronon all head to Earth when the SGC finds Dean's car and has it hauled to Colorado. Once there, they get a call from Bobby, who has information for them. This inevitably leads to a road trip. And car sex.

“Sam, move your ass!” Dean called as he finished lacing up his boots.

“I’m still not sure this is a good idea.” Sam said, appearing in the door from the bathroom. “We don’t know how it found us.”

Dean understood, because he wasn’t completely happy with the plan either. But, Dr. Weir had said they’d found his car, and he would be happier armed with his father’s journal and the essentials, just in case the demon once known as Meg made a reappearance.

That and he really wanted to see his girl.

He put his foot down and looked up at Sam. “Maybe not the best idea, but we need things out of the car, Sam.”

“I know.” He tossed his towel and moved to pull on a shirt. “It might be nice to wear my own clothes for a change.”

“I just hope they got everything that was in it.”

“Dr. Weir gave you an inventory, right?”

Dean nodded. “It looks good, and like they didn’t look too hard. None of the guns and stuff are listed.

The door opened and John was there, waving them into the hall. “You guys ready?”

 

The step through the gate wasn’t like the others they’d done. Well, it was, but on the other side they were greeted by American military hardware and John was smiling and shaking hands. Ronon stood aloof with Sam and Dean until John was beckoning them and they were following him through a series of tunnels and into a room.

“Just procedure. General Landry wants a word with the two of you.”

“But my car is here, right?”

John chuckled. “Yes, it’s here.”

John snapped to attention as the door opened. Dean looked up at the General who came into the room. “At ease, Colonel.” He turned his eyes on Sam and Dean. “You must be the Winchesters.”

Dean nodded and held out his hand. “I’m Dean. This is my brother Sam.”

“I won’t keep you. I just need to reassure my chain of command that you are who you say you are, and not what your police records say.”

Sam offered a small smile. “I thought Dr. Weir already did that.”

General Landry nodded. “Dr. Weir seems to believe you. I tend to trust her judgment. But you’re my responsibility here.” He crossed his arms. “I’ve read your file. It’s…colorful.”

Dean wasn’t entirely sure he liked this guy. “By colorful, you mean full of shit?”

Landry chuckled. “I wouldn’t have said it like that. But, that’s quite a list of crimes you boys have racked up.”

Dean nodded. “Ours has not been a normal life. Can’t do what we do and live normal. It doesn’t work.”

“What you do.” Landry held up a hand when Dean bristled. “I’ve seen enough strange stuff in this job not to dismiss it outright, Son. I’m just saying that it isn’t sitting well with those who maybe haven’t seen the things I’ve seen.”

“You know, General, half of Atlantis saw the demon.” John interjected. 

“I know, Colonel, and that’s why we’re sitting _here_ having a chat and not in the brig.” Landry took a deep breath. “The car is upstairs in the parking garage. You have five days before the Daedelus is ready to leave. If you boys have business you need to tend to, I suggest you do it now. Colonel Sheppard, they’re your responsibility while they’re here.”

“Thank you sir.”

The General left the room and John slapped Dean upside the head. “Would it hurt you to show a little respect?”

Dean rubbed at the spot. “I was respectful.”

John rolled his eyes. “Come on.”

 

Anxiety and hope rolled off of Dean as John led them into a parking structure. Sam felt it the moment Dean saw the Impala, something very close to sexual gratification flooding through him.

His hands stroked over her lines tenderly and when he reached the hood he laid down against it, pressing his cheek to the metal. “Oh baby, I’ve missed you.”

“You two need a moment alone?” Sam asked with a smirk.

“Don’t listen to him, babe, he’s just jealous cause I always liked you best.”

John whistled low. “This is your car?”

Dean grinned up at him. “1967 Impala. I rebuilt her myself after…well, after she danced with a semi. Thing of beauty.” 

“I’ll say.” John ran a hand lovingly over the front fender.

“Good thing I know how to hide a spare key.” He popped the hood and leaned in under it to the place where he always kept a key hidden. They’d lost the keys along with everything else on the Sagare’s planet. He came out from under the hood with a smudge of grease on his cheek and a key in his hand.

Sam would never understand why the sight aroused him. Dean dirty. Dean sweaty. Dean suddenly in his face, pulling him in to kiss. Sam blinked and stepped back. “Um. Dean?” 

Dean cleared his throat and shook his head. “Yeah. Sorry.” He scratched his head and headed for the trunk. “Don’t know what I was thinking.”

Sam could feel his arousal though, and thoughts about all the ways the two of them could enjoy having the Impala to themselves. He snorted, not surprised that his brother actually had sexual fantasies that involved the damn car.

“So…” Dean opened the trunk and went immediately for the secret compartment, sighing in relief when he found everything more or less intact. “Good. The bastards didn’t take anything.”

John was whistling again. “That’s a lot of firepower.” 

Dean was grinning. “We like to be prepared. Tools of the trade.” He was digging through the stash, pulling a duffle to him. “I can bring my guns, right?”

“We don’t have enough guns for you?”

“No offense.” Dean held up his favorite one. “I like familiar things.”

“I’m sure it will be fine.” 

Dean nodded and filled the duffle with rock salt cartridges, blessed rounds, iron rounds, their father’s journal, holy water. 

A phone rang and everyone froze. Sam cocked his head.

“Dude, did you leave your phone in the car?”

Dean shrugged and tossed Sam the key. He got the passenger side open and there, in the glove box was Dean’s phone. He grabbed it. “Bobby.” He flipped it open. “Hey, Bobby.” 

He grimaced and pulled the phone away from his ear. “Good God boy, where have you been? I’ve been calling you for weeks.”

“Bobby. Bobby.” Sam sighed and let the older man sound off. “We’re fine. We’ve just been…well, we’ve been busy.” John was staring at him, his arms crossed. 

“Okay, Bobby, I’ll see what we can do.” 

Sam hung up the phone and looked at his brother. “He needs to see us. Something about the demon.”

Dean nodded slowly. “We’ve got what? Five days? We can do it.” He leered at John. “Who’s up for a road trip?”

“Wait.” John shook his head. “Road trip? We’re here to get your things and go back to Atlantis.”

“General Landry did tell us to take care of our business.” Dean countered. “Bobby’s our business. Look, he was my father’s good friend and he feels like he owes us since Dad died. It’s a few days drive. We check in, let him know we’ll be out of radio contact, and we come back. Piece of cake.”

 

John wasn’t comfortable. Part of it was sitting in the back seat of the car like a kid, next to Ronon for two days. It was a big car, but not nearly big enough for two grown men. And that was before John started thinking about Ronon spread out on those leather seats.

Dean groaned and glanced back at him. “Seriously dude, you’re gonna make me pull this car over.” Beside him Sam roused, sleepy and adorable and that only made the images in John’s head double to include Sam and Ronon…then Dean and himself.

Ronon was the only one sleeping as Dean steered the car off whatever back road they were screaming down at two in the morning, but he came awake as Dean threw the car in park and leaned over the back seat to pull John to him. “Can’t drive with you doing that,” he said after his kiss.

“What’d I miss?” Ronon asked. He rolled his eyes when he realized.

Dean released John, but didn’t take his eyes off him. “He was thinking about how you two could get it on back there.”

“There’s no room.” John said, his eyes locked on Dean’s.

Dean’s tongue darted out, swiped over his lip. “Ronon on his back. You riding him.” John’s face was getting red, he could feel it.

“Roof.” John was licking his lips now too.

“Duck.” Dean countered. He was reaching for Sam, who’d been watching the whole thing silently. Before John fully registered what Dean was doing, Sam’s zipper was down. Dean manhandled him into position, his back against the door, while Dean unzipped his own jeans, still staring at John.

“Better catch up.” Ronon said, his voice dark and lusty. When John looked Ronon had mirrored Sam’s position, his pants open, his cock hard. 

He raised an eyebrow and Ronon winked, his hands moving to John’s waist.

Dean groaned and they both looked and John wished he hadn’t. All he could see was Dean’s head and shoulders and part of Sam’s head, but there was no doubt what was going on in that front seat as Dean sank onto Sam’s cock.

Ronon managed to get John’s pants open and they fumbled in the cramped space. Dean’s eyes were dark as they met John’s and he held up a tube of lube. “Boy scout?”

Dean grinned, then the grin was lost to a moan as Sam pushed up into him. Ronon stole the lube and worked it over his cock before pulling John into place. “I haven’t done this in a car since…a long time.” John swallowed as Ronon entered him. 

“Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever done _this_ in a car.” Dean said. 

Ronon shifted and pulled John down onto him. Dean was rocking, his head scraping the roof. Sam’s eyes were closed. John lifted up, minding his head, then sank back down. It was awkward, but he watched Dean, felt the way his body was moving over Sam’s and slowly let himself mimic the movement, rocking forward and back rather than truly riding up and down. Ronon moaned in appreciation for what the motion did for his cock.

The windows were already fogging over, the air in the car steaming up. John wanted…more…Dean…then Dean’s mouth was on his, their bodies moving in unison. Dean groaned onto John’s tongue, and John moaned it back onto Dean’s.

John’s cock was hard now and Dean’s hand reached over the seat to grab him, jerking him slowly. 

“Now that’s hot.” Ronon whispered and John had to agree…the whole thing was getting hot. When Sam’s hand closed around Dean’s cock, John’s brain stopped working. 

“Fuck.” Sam was the first of them to come, pushing Dean up until his head was against the ceiling. John followed, spurting come onto the window over Ronon’s head. 

Dean leaned back as he came, the long strings landing on Sam’s head. Ronon grunted, pushing up. John’s head cracked against the roof as his ass flooded with come.

“Sorry.” Ronon eased him down. Dean was reaching for him but John pulled away, falling back to the seat. 

“Watch the leather.” Dean was pulling his boxers up over his ass.

“Fuck the leather.” John muttered. “My head. I told you there wasn’t room.”

 

Dean debated the wisdom of taking John and Ronon all the way to Bobby’s, but it wasn’t like they were just going to let them go alone. He stopped them just before the turn off.

“So. Bobby. He’s an old friend of our father’s. A hunter, like us.” Dean squinted his eyes at John.

“You want us to be quiet.” John said and Dean nodded. 

“Yeah. We just need to convince him that we’re okay…and let him know we won’t be around.”

John pulled something out of a pocket and handed it to Dean. “Give him this. If he needs you for anything, he can call that number. He should tell the person who answers that he has a message for you. It’ll get relayed.”

Dean took the card and nodded. 

“And you can’t tell him where you will be, or where you’ve been. Or why.”

Dean rolled his eyes and sighed. “Dude, hunter. I’ve been known to keep a secret or twenty.”

Truth was, he was nervous about this. Bobby wasn’t a fool. He was going to peg John for military as soon as he got out of the car. Dean had no idea what he’d make of Ronon. He set them moving again, down the long dusty lane. 

He stopped the car in front of the old house and slowly got out. The screen door opened and Bobby was coming down the stairs, squinting at them. Dean held up a hand as Sam stood. “Hey Bobby.” 

“Dean Winchester.” He was scowling, crossing the space between them, then Dean was swept up in his arms. “You leave on out of here with no goodbye and the next thing I hear from you, you’ve been arrested…and then you just disappear? And no word for a month.”

“Sorry Bobby, we’ve been busy.” Dean said, stepping back. 

Bobby saw John then. “Who’s that?”

“Friends.” Dean said, stepping between them. “The reason we’ve been out of touch.”

Bobby’s eyes narrowed even further. “You boys got any idea the trouble you got brewing?”

“We’ve been…away.” Sam said, coming around to lean on the hood of the Impala.

“Away?”

“We can’t tell you more Bobby. We’re okay though.”

“You ain’t okay, Boy.” Bobby snapped. “You got a Fed jonesing for your ass, and a demon chasing after your brother’s. Last I checked that wasn’t okay.”

“A Fed? You’re worked up over a Fed?” Dean glanced back at John who was looking like he was going to be getting out of the car if Bobby got any more obvious with his anger.

“Get your ass in the house. I’ve got information for you.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah, give me a minute. He went to John’s door and opened it, holding up the keys. “Town’s about fifteen minutes that way.” He pointed. “Why don’t you two go get a beer. Sam and I got some business.”

John looked Bobby over, then back up at Dean. “You sure?”

“Give us an hour, then come back for us.”

John got out of the car, his eyes darting to Bobby, then back to Dean. “One hour.” He moved to the driver’s side and started the car. Dean backed off and watched him go.

Sam was already following Bobby inside. Dean sighed and followed them both. 

In the kitchen, Bobby threw a file on the table. “His name is Hendrickson, and he’s got it bad for you. He’s been here twice in the last month, since you two disappeared out of Baltimore.”

“So?” Dean pulled the folder to him and opened it. “We’ve had cops on us before.”

“Not like this you haven’t.” Bobby scratched at his beard. “He tangled with your Daddy too. Part of why he went missing when he did.” 

Dean looked at the grainy picture of the FBI agent. “He knew Dad?”

“It’s personal, whatever it is.” Bobby sighed and looked up at Sam. “And just so you don’t feel left out…” He grabbed another file off the counter and tossed it at Sam. “Five exorcisms in the last month. Five demons looking for you.”

Sam sighed. “Yeah, we ran into one recently too.”

“You ain’t gonna tell me where you boys have been, are you?”

Sam smiled and looked at Dean. “Sorry, we really can’t.”

“This to do with that military guy you let drive off in the Impala?”

Dean swiped a hand over his face. “Yes. But we can’t say much about it, Bobby.”

“What the hell you mixed up in, Boy?”

There was a car door closing and Dean looked at Sam. “It hasn’t been an hour.” Sam said softly. 

Bobby was at the kitchen window. “Shit. Hendrickson. Out the back.” 

Dean scrambled through the kitchen and out to the back door, but stopped dead. There were men out there too. “Call John,” he hissed at Sam. 

“You’re the one he can feel.” Sam hissed back. “Let him know we’re in trouble.”

“Dean Winchester. This is Special Agent Hendrickson. We know that you and your brother are inside. Come out quietly and no one gets hurt.”


	11. Chapter 11

John Sheppard wasn’t comfortable as he sat in a booth in some run down dive bar in the middle of nowhere South Dakota. He wasn’t comfortable that he had let Dean and Sam out of his sight. He wasn’t comfortable that he was uncertain of the distance between them, or how long they could go before Dean started to feel the effects. 

“You okay?” Ronon asked as he slid into the booth, putting a beer in front of John. 

He lifted the glass and took a drink before responding. “Not really.” When they were separated, John always felt a bit of anxiety, but this was different. Like maybe Dean was anxious too.

“Feel something?” Ronon was trying for casual, and might have hit it if not for the concern in his eyes. 

“Maybe.” Whoever the old guy was, it was obvious Dean trusted him. “Maybe it’s nothing.”

Ronon’s eyes flicked over him. “Right. Nothing.”

John made a face and sipped his beer. It wasn’t nothing. He dropped the beer as pain lanced through his shoulder. Pain like he’d been shot. He grabbed at his shoulder and shook his head. “Dean.”

 

“Dean!” Sam screamed and reached for his brother, but Dean hit the ground just out of reach, and Bobby was pulling Sam back inside the door.

Dean groaned and rolled to his side, shaking his head at Sam. All around the house agents and local police were moving in. Bobby was pulling Sam back, into the house, away from windows. “Let me go!” Sam yanked his arm free, but the pain radiating from his shoulder and now his stomach dropped him to the ground. “Fuck!”

His brother was out there getting the shit kicked out of him. “Damn it Bobby, Dean needs me.”

“He needs you to not lose your head.” Bobby pushed him into the crowded library where there were no windows through which they could get shot. 

Sam’s stomach twisted. Dean was hurt and it echoed through Sam. He folded his arms over his stomach.

“Come on out Sam. This can only end ugly if you don’t. I’m sure you don’t want Mr. Singer to get hurt too.” Henriksen’s voice came through the house.

Sam shook his head. John was going to freak. He turned to look at Bobby. “I can’t explain everything Bobby…but I don’t think we can stall them long enough…so I need you to do me a favor.”

“I’m not going to like this, am I?”

“Dean and I….we’re…involved in something and it involves the two men we showed up with. They’ll be coming back. With any luck before this goes too far…but…” But, they’d already shot Dean, and all he’d done was step out on the porch to talk. “I have to go with Dean. Don’t ask why. I just do. John will be coming, he’ll know Dean’s hurt. He’s…” Dean licked his lips. “He’s a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force. Tell him everything.”

“Sam?”

“Just do it, Bobby. Tell him everything. He’s going to have to know it all “

“If you go out there you’re going to end up in prison.”

“Maybe.” Sam backed up to the door. “If I don’t go out there, they’re going to come in.”

Bobby shook his head. Sam blew out. “Sorry.” He landed the blow hard to Bobby’s jaw, sending him sprawling backward. Better unconscious than dead. Sam inched out of the library and back toward the kitchen. “Henriksen, I’m coming out.” He kicked the door open and heard a dozen guns cocking. “I’m unarmed, and I’m coming out.”

Cautiously, Sam stepped out onto the porch, his eyes darting to the blood stain where Dean had fallen, before lifting to the array of guns leveled at him. “I’m unarmed,” he repeated, holding his arms out to his sides.

“Freeze right where you are. If you even twitch, I will put you down like I did your brother.”

Sam exhaled and fought down the urge to fight as men swarmed toward him. He was knocked to his knees and then face first into the dirt while hands searched him for hidden weapons and cuffed his hands behind his back. None of it was gentle, and more than one booted foot found its way into his rib cage before the swarm pulled back.

Sam coughed on the dust and ache in his side as they lifted him back to his knees and Henriksen emerged from behind a line of cars, holstering his gun and wiping at his mouth. Sam strained his neck, trying to see where they had taken Dean. 

Henriksen rewarded him by punching him hard across the jaw. “Welcome to my world, Sam. Be the smart boy we both know you are.”

“Where’s my brother?” Sam asked, looking up at Henriksen.

The agent leaned close. “If I were you, I’d be worrying about myself right now. Dean doesn’t stand a chance…you? Maybe you play your cards right, you get off light.”

“You don’t understand—“

Henriksen grabbed his face, squeezing his cheeks in. “I understand plenty. I understand that you Winchesters are monsters and I aim to prove it.” He nodded to one of the men holding Sam and something heavy thudded into the back of Sam’s head. The world wobbled and fell into dark, taking Sam with it.

 

John swerved off the road and grabbed at his head, gasping. “Fuck.” Something was very obviously not right. He breathed through the pain, then got out of the car, opening the trunk. He picked out a gun and checked the load before getting back into the car.

Ronon raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything, just reached under the seat for his own gun. 

“Let’s not get carried away.” John said.

“You said it felt like Dean was shot.” Ronon said. 

“We don’t know what’s going on.” John pulled back on the road. They weren’t far now. He knew that Dean had been anxious, that he was trying to control a situation that felt very out of control. He knew Dean had been shot and that right at that moment he couldn’t feel Dean at all. 

The air was dusty as they pulled into the property where they had left Dean and Sam, as if a bunch of cars had recently driven over the packed dirt drive. John was out of the car as soon as he had it in park. “Dean!” He moved toward the house, pounding on the door before his eyes spotted the blood on the porch. He squatted next to it, dipped a finger in it. 

It wasn’t cold yet. Whatever had gone down, it had happened fast.

The door opened and a gun preceded the old man. John held his hands up and stood slowly. “Bobby Singer, right?’

The man was blinking, rubbing at his jaw with his free hand. “Depends on who’s asking.”

John nodded. “Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, US Air Force. I was here earlier with Sam and Dean.”

“You’re too late.”

John felt his heart sink. That didn’t sound good. Bobby lowered the gun and pushed the door open further. “Get on in here. Sam told me to tell you everything.”

John gestured for Ronon to join him and followed Bobby inside. “Everything?”

Bobby nodded, waving at the kitchen table with his gun. “Most of it’s there.” He went to the refrigerator and pulled out an ice tray. 

John lifted the nearest file, his eyes skimming over names and notations he didn’t fully understand. “Demons?” He raised an eyebrow at Ronon who held another file.

“FBI.” Ronon countered, turning the file to show John a picture.

“What exactly happened here?” John asked.

“Near as I can figure it, Henriksen was watching me. As soon as you left, he moved in. Shot Dean, Sam gave himself up. Said something about needing to be with Dean.”

John nodded absently. They’d never really put that connection to the test, but assumed that it would work the same way as the thing between Dean and John. If they were separated for too long or over too much distance, it could lead to passing out…and probably worse. Carson seemed to think that if the connection was withheld long enough, it would kill Dean.

“What does this Henriksen want, exactly?” 

Bobby shrugged, holding a towel filled with ice to his jaw. It was starting to bruise. He took the file from Ronon and put it down on the table flipping pages. “According to my sources, this guy had been tracking their daddy for near a year ‘for he died. Then there was the shape-shifter thing in St. Louis, and Dean popped up on his radar. Somehow he’s managed to put together a pretty skewed view of who the boys are and what they do.”

John huffed. That wasn’t really a conversation he wanted to have just now. “So he knows about the demons and the ghosts and…?”

Bobby snorted. “He thinks Dean’s psychotic. Thinks his Daddy made him that way.”

“Great. Any idea where they were taking them?”

“He had a bunch of locals with him, so probably the jail in town while they work out transportation to wherever it is they’re going to end up.”

John chewed on his lip for a minute, then pulled out his cell phone. It was time to call in reinforcements.

 

Dean groaned and tried to reach for his throbbing shoulder, only to find he couldn’t move his hands. He opened his eyes, taking in the overly tight cuffs that not only bound his hands together but chained him to a tiny, hard cot in a tiny room built from concrete and iron.

“Dean?”

He lifted his head. “Sam?” He couldn’t see his brother, but he felt the surge of relief from him. 

“You okay?”

Dean put his head back down. “I’ve been shot. I’m in jail. I’m not okay.”

“You were out a long time.” Sam’s voice was filled with worry, just like the waves of emotion rolling off of him.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse.”

“Oh, I don’t think you have.”

Dean lifted his head again as Henriksen stopped outside his cell. “No offense, dude, but you don’t scare me.”

“No? I supposed I can fix that.” As he spoke, Henriksen’s voice deepened, changed and when he blinked, Dean saw his eyes flicker and fill with yellow. “Scared of me now?”

“Dean?” Sam’s voice raised in pitch.

Henriksen’s smile was wicked as he opened the cell and moved to where Dean was cuffed. Dean licked his lips and pulled away. “It’s okay Sammy, I’m going to take good care of Dean.”

He squatted down beside Dean, looking over the bruise on his face and the blood still oozing from his shoulder. He made a sympathetic sound. “That looks nasty.” He pressed a thumb into the wound and Dean fought screaming as long as he could, but that wasn’t’ long.

“Dean!” Sam was rattling furniture in the cell across the hall. “You son of a bitch!”

Henriksen’s head cocked to the side. “Now, now…no need to bring our mothers into this. Though your mother **was** a piece of work. My mother? She wasn’t nearly as much fun to kill as yours.”

Dean hissed and kicked, connecting with Henriksen’s arm before his hand grabbed Dean around the neck. “That wasn’t nice, Dean. I _am_ the law, you know. You just assaulted a federal agent.”

“Fuck…you.” Dean squeezed out, forcing air past the constriction of his hand.

“We’ll get to that, don’t worry. I want to enjoy this. I’ve been waiting a long time.”

He let go and stood.

Dean panted and tried to control the waves of panic, then realized that they weren’t his, they were Sam’s…and there was an echo of something from John as well. That was good. He tried to reach for it, to send something actively across the link. He’d never really tried that before. Dean closed his eyes and concentrated. John would come for them.

That was just the kind of guy he was.

 

“With all due respect, _sir_ , I can’t believe I’m hearing this.” John said, pacing up and down the sidewalk in front of the local jail. “These two men are a part of my team.”

John listened as the general read part of Dean’s file to him. “I understand, but that’s only part of the story. Sir—“

Bobby was coming out of a building down the road and coming toward them. “Obviously, sir, there is something wrong here. The entire local police force is missing.” John said, glancing up as Ronon crossed his arms. “No sir.”

Bobby stopped and John bit off the response he really wanted to give Landry. “Fine, I look forward to it.”

He hung up the phone. “We’re on our own. For the moment. The General doesn’t want to step on FBI toes. He says he has to use the proper channels.” His stomach was queasy, and his vision swam. They didn’t have time for channels.

Ronon reached out to steady him as he weaved on his feet. John squeezed his eyes shut and held on, recognizing Dean and reaching out for him. He got the impression of a jail cell, a dark skinned man with yellow eyes, pain, fear. He gasped. 

“Dean?” Ronon asked as John straightened up.

“Yeah…they’re in some sort of jail. Not here.”

“What was that?” Bobby asked, clearly skeptical.

John licked his lips. “Dean and I…we’re…sort of connected.”

Bobby looked confused by that. “I thought Sam was the psychic one.”

“It must run in the family.” John said dryly. “Know anywhere around here that would have a jail that wasn’t being used? It looked old.”

“How old?” Bobby asked, swiping his baseball hat off his head to scratch.

“Like old west old.” John responded.

Bobby nodded. “Yeah, I know a place. Abandoned mining town maybe a half hour away.”

Bobby started for the car, but John stopped him with a hand on his arm. “One more thing.” He wiped his mouth, sure he wasn’t going to like the answer. “Henriksen, he doesn’t wear freaky contact lenses or something, does he?”

Bobby looked at him like he had snakes growing out of his face. “No, why?”

“Well, assuming that was him who was hurting Dean? His eyes were all yellow.”

“Shit. We need to swing by my place on the way. Pick up a few things. The boys don’t have anything in that car to deal with _that_ son of a bitch.”

 

They were alone at the moment. Sam still couldn’t see Dean, but he could hear his breathing. It was wet and sticky, but it was still moving in and out, and for the time being Sam was willing to let that be a victory.

His brother’s body was broadcasting his pain, and Sam could feel every bit of it…amplified by the technology that bound them together over and above the blood they shared and the way Sam had just always felt Dean’s every breath.

“Dean?” 

Dean coughed. “Yeah, Sam.”

He wanted to say “don’t leave me” or “I’m sorry” or something, but Dean knew. The demon was using Dean. He wanted something from Sam and he was going to torture Dean until he got it. 

The problem was, Sam wasn’t sure what it was he wanted.

“Just hold on. John will come.”

“John can’t handle this.” Dean said softly.

Sam nodded, blinking against tears. This had been what their father had been afraid of…what their father had warned Dean about. “You can’t give in Sam.” Dean said.

“I know.” But they both knew he would. To save Dean, Sam would. Even if that meant he became what his father most feared he would.

“Stop fighting it, Sammy.” Henriksen slipped out of the shadows. The cell door opened and he came to squat beside the cot where Sam was chained. “Just join me, and I’ll give you Dean. Healed up and ready to serve. No more kneeling at his feet…he’ll kneel at yours…”

Sam closed his eyes as the images invaded him and his body responded. “No.” He shook his head.

“I know the twisted little desires in your heart, Sam. I put them there. The way you want him, your own brother.”

“What is it you want from me?” Sam asked softly.

“I want you to realize the power you were born to. I want you to join me, fight with me…”

“I’d rather die.” Sam whispered.

“Be careful what you wish for.” 

Sam’s body seized as invisible hands squeezed his stomach, his heart, his throat. He fought against it, against the creeping blackness, until he felt himself disconnect, float. The pressure vanished and he lay panting on the cot.

Henriksen’s face was close, his lips against the skin of Sam’s face. “You like it to hurt, don’t you Sammy? I can show you the most exquisite pain.”

Sam couldn’t stop the screams as those invisible hands returned, squeezing and releasing and squeezing again.

 

John doubled over, holding his stomach and retching into the grass. “Fuck,” he gasped as he reached for the Impala to pull himself up. He was almost certain it was Sam getting tortured now, though he’d never actually felt Sam that clearly before. Maybe it was a product of the intensity of the pain…or something to do with Sam’s…differences.

They were looking at a small mining town. Maybe five buildings total. There appeared to be guards in the uniforms of local cops. Bobby lowered the binoculars. “They’re possessed. This ain’t gonna be easy.”

“Is anything ever easy?” John reached for the binoculars. They needed to get closer. He pointed at the only cover between them and the town, a stand of trees that would let them get up behind the nearest building. 

“They’re in the jail. Middle on the left.” As he said it, someone emerged from the building and two more came behind him, dragging another. “Sam.” John breathed, watching the two cops drag Sam into the street.

He was dropped to his knees in the middle of the dirt street. “What the hell?” He watched as a woman emerged from another building and moved toward Sam. She seemed to talk to him, then back away, her hands on her head. Sam screamed, and it echoed in the wind. 

Before John could think better of it, he had a gun out, tracking the thing that had appeared in front of Sam. Bobby’s hand closed on his and pulled, pointing the gun at the woman instead. John pulled the trigger and she went down, the ghost-like girl in front of Sam disappearing.

Ronon was pushing him back toward the back of the building as the cops ran toward them and Sam was staggering to his feet. Bobby thrust a different gun into his hands. “Blessed rounds. Go get Sam, let me deal with Henriksen.”

 

Sam felt it when Eva died. Felt the claws of the demon she’d been controlling leave his chest. Felt the yellow-eyed Demon’s anger at the interruption. Felt the ease with which he could do what she’d done. 

He staggered to his feet, turning for Henriksen.

“You feel it now, don’t you Sammy?” He stepped down into the street. “Take it. Take it and I’ll give you everything you ever wanted.”

There were more gunshots. The demon possessed cops were dying. John and Ronon were circling around. Bobby was setting a trap.

Henriksen smiled sickly at him. He raised an arm and Bobby came flying from behind one of the buildings. He fell to the ground at Sam’s feet. “Kill him Sam. Kill him and you can have Dean…hell, you can have them all…all yours, all of them…”

Sam felt it surging through him. He looked down at Bobby. It wouldn’t be hard. It would be so easy. 

_Sam._ Dean. Sam’s eyes flicked to the jail. It came at him, love, need, desperate affection… _brother_ and _lover_ and _everything_. The door opened. Dean leaned against Ronon, a gun in his hand. A gun leveled at Sam. 

Henriksen laughed in the middle of the street. “You going to kill your baby brother Dean? Is that what your Daddy wanted?”

Dean ignored Henriksen, his eyes on Sam. “Sammy.”

Sam closed his eyes. If he gave in it would all be over…he could take Dean and make him safe. No more hunting, no more aliens, no more government people trying to kill them…or own them.

He felt Dean inside him. He was begging. “Don’t make me do it Sam.”

Sam reached down and pulled Bobby up. Bobby’s hand clasped his, pressing something cold and metal into his hand. Sam swallowed. He could feel the power in it…like ice leeching into his skin. It wouldn’t kill the Yellow eyed son of a bitch, but it would make the body he was inhabiting less hospitable.

Two gunshots rang out and Henriksen’s body convulsed, the demon laughing as he turned to face John who still had the gun trained on him.

“Really, John? Did you think that puny little pea shooter could put me down?”

Sam met Bobby’s eyes, nodding minutely. As if Sam had done something to him, Bobby fell to the ground. Sam felt Dean’s anguish, the muzzle of his gun tracking as Sam bolted toward Henriksen. He got one hand on his jacket before the demon was lifting him off the ground.

The gun fired and Sam felt the bullet eat the distance, felt Dean’s screamed “Sam!” in his gut…and when Henriksen’s mouth opened for the demon’s laughter, Sam opened his hand, letting the amulet fall into his mouth.

He fell to the ground, the bullet ripping into his side and slamming into Henriksen as he stumbled backward, holding his throat. It was small enough to swallow, but the Demon was trying to force it out, and the battle was robbing the body of air.

Finally, Henriksen swallowed and fell to the ground, his mouth opening as the demon spewed out of him with a roar.

Sam lay still on the ground, holding his bleeding side and panting. His head spun and he was close to passing out. There was a hand on his face, tender. He forced his eyes open. “Hey, stay with me.” John said, pressing a hand against the wound. 

“Dean…” Sam tried to look, but his head wouldn’t turn.

“Easy, Ronon’s got him. Lie still.” John lifted Sam’s head and cradled it against his leg.

Sam shook his head against John, but it only made the dark press in closer. “Dean!”

Suddenly Dean was there beside him, Ronon lowering him to the ground while John flicked open his phone. 

“Sam. Sammy.” Dean’s hands were sticky with blood as they grabbed onto Sam’s.

“I’m okay…I’m okay.” He closed his eyes and laid back, his head on John’s knee. He was going to pass out…but he was okay.

 

The small, deserted town was crawling with military personnel. Sam and Dean and the FBI agent were all strapped down to gurneys ready to be airlifted to a secure hospital. John stood beside them, standing guard.

Ronon watched as SGC troops finished clearing the town of the dead. As Landry headed toward John, Ronon moved too, figuring he should be close. “So now I have dead civilians, dead police, and a wounded FBI agent.” Landry crossed his arms. 

“My men were being tortured, Sir.” John said, his eyes flashing angrily. “By said FBI agent who just happened to be possessed.”

“By a demon.” Landry was clearly skeptical. 

“By something. Does it matter what we call it?” John asked. “I took these guys under my protection. I couldn’t wait for your channels, Sir.”

“Choppers here. We’ll talk about this later.” Landry said, stepping back as the chopper landed. 

 

Sam and Dean were going to be fine. A few days in the hospital, a trip back to Stargate Command to be debriefed, and a trip back to Atlantis would round out their visit home. And until they were safely back on Atlantis either John or Ronon would keep them tucked in tight. 

Right now, that duty fell to Ronon.

John was doing his best at being intimidating.

Henriksen thanked the nurse who had changed his bandage and looked to John. 

“I take it that this is where you tell me how lucky I am you didn’t kill me?”

John shook his head. “No, this is the part where I tell you to forget you ever heard the names Sam and Dean Winchester.”

Henriksen’s eyes narrowed. “I can’t do that.”

“I think you’ll find that you can. In fact, I think what you’ll find is that they no longer exist…not in any official capacity anyway.”

Henriksen started at him for a minute then nodded. “Right. You think because you’re military you can yank my chain.”

“I didn’t yank it.” John uncrossed his arms and moved a few steps closer. “I don’t know why you’re so hot to take them down. Now you know the demon stuff is true, and they’re doing a job for Uncle Sam. That’s all you need.”

“No sir, it’s not.” Henriksen countered. “Someone has to pay for the things they’ve done.”

John made a face. “Credit card fraud and grave desecration?”

“No. Murder.”

John sighed and shook his head.

“I’m not talking about those girls in St. Louis. I’m talking about my brother.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam and Dean deal with the fall out of their confrontation with YED. Ronon tries to help. John is trapped between the boys and the government.

“Henriksen says your father killed his brother.” John said, leaning against the wall in Dean’s hospital room.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, Henriksen is a few pancakes short of a stack.” Dean replied.

Sam’s face was concerned as he looked to Dean. In the last two days John had found that whatever Sam had been through had changed him, including a sudden increase in the connections he shared both with Dean and with John. 

“He seems pretty sure. Says you were there too Dean.” He pushed off the wall and moved toward the bed. “Says your father rambled about a werewolf.”

Dean shifted, his face tensing and his hand shooting up to the bandages on his shoulder. “Wait, werewolf? Where?”

“Memphis. Said your father shot him. Said you were there, that you kept him from helping his brother.”

“Memphis? That would have been…what? Five years ago?”

“Something like that.” John said.

Dean glanced aside at Sam. “Just before you left. You’d gone to that shop in Nashville to pick up Dad’s kit. Dad caught wind of what sounded like a werewolf outside Memphis.” He shook his head. “That was Henricksen?”

John could feel unease rolling around Dean’s stomach that was more than the nausea brought on by the painkillers in his system. “No wonder he’s got it bad for us. I had to take him out…wasn’t easy. His brother…he’d already killed five people. Chased him into a cemetery. Never knew he was FBI.”

“Well, he wasn’t. Yet. Joined them right after. Been hunting you ever since.”

Sam’s face paled and John caught an echo of an image. Gray-white skin glowing in the moonlight, teeth, broken nails. 

“Sam.” Dean reached for him, but Sam pulled away, wheeling his chair out of Dean’s reach.

“I’m fine.”

“Like hell.” 

There were waves of pain and sorrow in Sam’s wake as he moved to the door. John caught him in the hallway. “Hey.”

Sam closed his eyes and shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

John sighed. “Just help me out here. I’m out of my depth.” He squatted beside the chair. “I’m trying to keep up, but I can’t when you shut me out.”

Sam shook his head. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

“Like hell.” 

They both looked up and Sam’s eyes widened. “Dean, you need to be in bed.”

“Don’t make this about me.” Dean pulled his IV stand with him, reaching for John for support. John got the same image repeated from Dean’s head, only this time he could see more, a woman transforming into some…thing. 

“Who was she?” John asked gently. 

“No one.” Sam sighed explosively. “We hardly knew her. And this isn’t about Madison, Dean.” Sam’s was reacting like he was angry, but all John could feel from him was fear. 

“No?” Dean asked. “Then why is my head filled with her right now?”

“Your head, not mine.” 

“Bull shit.”

Sam yanked his hand free of Dean’s and set off down the hall. Dean took a step to follow, but John could feel the pain lancing through him and wrapped an arm around his waist. “Okay, let’s get you back into bed.”

He thought Dean might argue, but then he just sagged and let John help him back into the room. 

“Sam killed her.” Dean said softly. “And I don’t think he’s ever forgiven himself.”

“Her?” John waved a hand at his head. “This beautiful woman in my head?”

Dean nodded. “Madison. She was a werewolf. Didn’t know it. We thought we could fix her…you know? She and Sam…they were…together after. Then, she turned again. Could have killed Sam. She begged him.” Dean looked up at him with tears in his eyes. “I would have done it for him, but…he wouldn’t let me.”

John at least understood how they’d gone from talking about Henricksen to Sam’s hasty departure. “I better go find him.”

 

Sam stopped when he got far enough away that Dean’s every breath didn’t feel like it was coming from Sam’s lungs.

He felt John coming, but still jumped when he spoke.

“You going to tell me what’s going on with you? Or do I have to keep guessing?”

Sam didn’t look up at him. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“No?” John moved around Sam, leaning against the plastic planter against the wall. “How about you try me anyway.”

Sam just scowled and crossed his arms. He wasn’t even sure he understood.

John sighed. “Look, Sam…I get that you and Dean are part of this super secret group that hunts the stuff most of us don’t want to admit exists, and that there are secrets. Believe me. I get that. But this is something more.”

John scratched at his head. “Dean is afraid for you. He hasn’t said it exactly, but he shot you back there. Knowing what I know about you two, that’s pretty significant.”

“He was right. I told him to.” Sam sighed. He could taste the iron in the bullet as it tore into him, feel the anguish that bled into Dean’s veins. “He thought he lost me.”

Maybe he had. 

Sam could feel it there inside him. Coiled up and sleeping in his heart. It was all there…he only needed to want it and it would rise up, filling him with the dark. And he’d be no different than poor Ava.

He sighed and hung his head. Sweet Ava. Heaven knew he was no where near as innocent or sweet as she had been. 

John was suddenly in his space, his hands rising to Sam’s face. “Hey. I can feel all of that.”

Sam blinked and looked up at him. “What?”

John shook his head. “It started when you and Dean were getting tortured. I’m reading you loud and clear.”

Sam frowned up at him. “I thought you were connected to Dean.”

John nodded. “Me too.”

“I’m sorry.”

John sighed and stood up. “I wish you’d stop apologizing. None of this is your fault.” John dragged a hand through his hair. 

Sam felt a rush of arousal from John and looked up. His own desire swept through him as Ronon stopped. “Landry’s looking for you.”

John rolled his eyes. “Alright.” He looked down at Sam. “You okay?”

“I keep telling you I’m fine.” Sam said. 

John leaned down to his ear. “I’m hearing you, but not feeling you.” He stood and looked at Ronon. “Keep an eye on them.”

“Expecting trouble?”

“The sooner we get home to Atlantis the happier I’ll be.”

John stalked off and Sam tried to head off to his room, but Ronon’s hand on the back of his chair stopped him. Sam sighed. “I’m tired.”

“Right. You always make that face when you’re tired.”

“What would you know?” Sam snapped, then shook his head. “I just want to be alone.”

“Sheppard told me to keep an eye on you.”

“Dean needs you more.”

“Don’t think so.” The chair started to move and Sam took his hands off the wheels. “See I may not have some alien collar telling me what you’re feeling, but I got eyes.”

He parked the chair next to Sam’s bed and offered his arm for leverage. Sam gripped his wrist and hauled himself out of the chair. It took a minute to maneuver into the bed, but he sighed as he sank into the pillows.

His wound from the gunshot wasn’t bad. It had passed cleanly through without hitting anything important, but the torture that the yellow-eyed demon had inflicted had left him with bruised internal organs. Dean was in worse shape though. Because in the end the demon wanted Sam and Dean was nothing but collateral damage…a means to an end. A way to break Sam.

Suddenly Ronon was kissing him, pressing him back against the bed. When his big hand closed over the bandage in his side and pressed in, Sam hissed, arching up under him.

Ronon raised an eyebrow in challenge. Sam was hard, even as he turned his face away and tried to deny it. Ronon’s thumb caressed over the bandage, just pressing in enough for Sam to feel it.

“More?”

Sam shook his head, his hand circling Ronon’s wrist, but not pulling it away. 

“I think you’re lying.” Ronon leaned in, climbing up on the bed until he was straddling Sam’s legs. “I think you want me to hurt you.”

He pressed in with his thumb, and at the same time rubbed his groin against Sam’s cock, which wasn’t hiding at all under the thin cotton of the hospital scrubs. Sam moaned before he could bite it off. 

“You think too much.” Ronon whispered thickly. His body moved against Sam’s in counterpoint to the way his thumb was moving over his wound.

Sam couldn’t argue…couldn’t think at all as his cock twitched and spewed. 

Ronon grinned down at him and jumped off the bed, dropping into the chair beside him and kicking his legs up onto the bed. “Feel better?”

Sam chuckled and nodded. It didn’t fix anything, but he did feel better. He could only hope he hadn’t bothered John…or Dean for that matter. Well, not too much anyway.

 

Dean leaned over the hood of his car with a soft rag, gently wiping at some spot he was sure he saw. His left arm was still in a sling, and his head still pounded if he was on his feet too long, but their trip home was coming to an end.

“You two need a room?” Sam asked, his hands in his pockets and well away from the wax job Dean had spent hours on.

“Funny.” Dean stepped back to admire his work. “I don’t like leaving her.”

He could feel the rolling eyes and looked up. “Don’t.”

“We’re going to be late.” 

Dean sighed and nodded. Sam was all gung ho over going back. The whole thing with the yellow-eyed son-of-a-bitch had left Sam wanting out of the hunting thing even more than before he left for school.

Not that Dean could blame him. Truth was, Dean wanted Sam as far away from that bastard as he could take him, too. He knew Sam well enough to know that if it meant Dean’s life, he’d do what the demon wanted, become what the demon wanted him to be.

There were footsteps and Dean looked up. “Your ride’s here.” Bobby said, scuffing to a stop beside Sam.

“You’ll take good care of her?”

Bobby fixed him with a glare that made Dean squirm. He tossed the keys to the older man and sighed. 

“Guess this is it then.” He hadn’t expected it to be so hard to leave.

“You boys look out for each other.” Bobby took off his hat and scratched his head before Sam opened his arms for a hug.

“We will.”

“Whatever crazy shit you got yourselves into.”

Dean moved in for a hug himself. “You know how to reach us if you need us.”

“I mean it. You two watch each other’s backs.”

Dean grinned, because watching Sam’s back usually led to leering at his ass anymore. Sam smacked him and headed out toward the front of the house. John had given them a few days to spend quietly here at Bobby’s while he and Ronon hung out near enough to make John comfortable.

Now, he stood beside the government car waiting. Dean grabbed his duffle off the porch and headed for the car. 

“Where’s Ronon?” Sam asked as Dean opened the passenger side door.

Dean was nearly jealous of the big guy. He and Sam seemed to spend a lot of time together at the hospital…and Sam mentioned him a lot. Though, it kind of made him horny too. No denying the sight of the two of them going at one another did a lot for him.

John looked at Dean, licking his lips. It was easy to tell what he was thinking, even if he couldn’t feel it. “He, ah, headed back early.”

Sam looked disappointed, but tried to hide it as he got in the car. 

“Did you two have a fight?” Sam asked suddenly. 

John looked disturbed by the question. “No. We don’t…fight.” 

Sam scowled at him. Dean couldn’t read the varying emotions roiling through his brother. “About Henricksen?” Sam’s eyes were half closed.

John swerved off the road. “Stop that.” He threw the car in park and all but climbed over the seat.

Sam’s eyes opened, startled. John was angry. Dean hadn’t sensed that until just that moment. “Ronon disagreed with the military’s handling of Henricksen.”

“Which you supported?” Dean offered.

John rolled his head, cracking his neck. “I kind of have to. It’s my job. And my track record with Landry is a little…rocky.”

“What did they do to him?”

“Sent him back to the FBI.” Sam said, looking to John for confirmation. “He’ll be reprimanded, but keep his position.”

John shifted back into his seat. “I fought to get him fired…but if they believe you two, it wasn’t entirely his fault. And if they don’t believe you two? That’s a whole different can of worms.”

Sam sighed and seemed to sink back into the seat. It felt like he was on the verge of apologizing again. Before he could John sighed explosively.

“And stop that too. I know you’re sorry, and you wish you could fix it. I know you didn’t ask for this and I’m sorry too. Just. Stop.”

Sam nodded and turned out the window. John put the car back in drive and headed out onto the road again. It was going to be a long ride back to Colorado.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Months have passed since the Winchesters have returned to Atlantis after their trip to Earth, and Sam has started to learn how to control his end of the connection he and Dean share with John. Only John and Dean think he's hiding something, and when Meg turns up again, things could go disastrously wrong.

"Sam, down!"

Sam dropped to his stomach, covering his head as John shot the approaching Wraith full in the face. John's hand closed on Sam's collar and dragged him up, shoving him toward Ronon and the gate.

"Rodney, get us out of here!"

"Working on it."

Dean stepped in beside John, both of them unloading their clips as the Wraith swarmed toward them. 

"Got it!" 

The gate came to life as Sam joined Rodney at the dialing device, touching his finger to the comm. device in his ear. "Atlantis, this is Sam. We're coming in hot, Wraith on our six."

"Roger that."

Rodney headed for the gate, Sam jogging beside him, but stopping short of going through to turn and watch Dean and John step backward in unison, dropping expended clips and reloading almost as one. 

Wraith stunner fire blasted past him into the wormhole and Sam ducked, lifting the hand gun that was all he had left after the whole thing had gone down badly. Ronon grabbed both John and Dean by the back of their jackets, dragging them backwards while they kept firing. Sam dove into the wormhole as they reached it, rolling clear on the other side to make room and coming up on one knee with the gun leveled at the gate. 

Ronon backed through, followed by John and Dean and a half dozen Wraith stunner blasts. "Lock it up!" John yelled, yanking himself free of Ronon and turning toward Sam. Dean was right in step with them, the fury dripping off of them nearly immobilizing him for a second.

He lowered the gun and held up one hand. "What the fuck was that!" Dean shouted.

"Colonel?" Dr. Weir was approaching, but it did little to cool the anger coming from the two men.

Sam lifted his eyes to Dean's. "Meg."

Dean stepped back like Sam had slapped him. "What are you telling me?"

Sam licked his lips and moved to stand, wavering a little, suddenly remembering the blood oozing out of his thigh and the other injuries. "The…woman…thing…wraith…" Sam glanced at John for help.

"The queen."

Sam nodded. "She was…it was Meg."

John squinted at him, his anger being replaced by confusion. "Wait…Meg, like the demon that came here Meg?"

Sam nodded, his hand still shaking as he holstered the gun. "She…it…they baited us."

"And you didn't know?" Dean asked incredulously.

"All right, lets save this for the debriefing. Sam, get to the infirmary. John, Dean, my office." 

Sam turned to argue, but lost his clamp down on the pain. Both Dean and John reacted before he could clamp it down again. It had taken him a long time to learn how to shield the two of them since the whole thing that went down with Henrickson on Earth.

Dean glared at him a moment longer, but Sam could sense the softening as he realized Sam was actually hurt. He accepted the hand Ronon offered to support him as he followed orders and started toward the infirmary.

Carson looked up, setting aside the chart he was looking at as they came into the room. "My, my, hardly a day goes by I don't have you or your brother in here bleeding on my floor."

Sam smiled as Ronon helped him to a bed. "We just like the company, doc."

"You know, you don't have to go and get yourself shot at to come and visit, Sam."

"Yeah well, apparently my company isn't as well received. And I wasn't shot. This time."

"Well lets have a look shall we?"

Sam sat back against the bed, grimacing as Carson pulled the ripped pants aside to get a look. "Is this what it looks like?"

"Yeah." Sam made a face. 

Carson squinted at him. "You don't look like he took much."

Sam glanced at Ronon who crossed his arms and made it clear with a look that he wasn't leaving. "She." Sam corrected. "She took a lot, but she kept giving it back too." The rush as it was forced back into him was incredible, maybe more intense than the pain as she fed. 

"She, eh?" Carson looked him over. "And the gash?"

"Knife." Sam swallowed and his control over the pain wavered again. He wasn't going to be able to hold it much longer and then Dean was going to be even more angry. "Just a scratch…had worse."

"There's also the bruised ribs and that hip wasn't feeling too great." Ronon added. 

Carson looked at him, then back at Sam. "All right, Son, let's get you under a scanner and see what the damage is, shall we?"

Sam felt the control slip away, felt Dean's then John's reaction, but then Carson was calling others over and he was rolled away from Ronon, and Sam let the pain pull him under.

 

Dean's stomach rolled, and he grabbed at the chair about two seconds before John did the same. Elizabeth squinted at them, but waited.

"That lying, fucking, son-of-a-bitch." Dean swore as he broke out in a sweat and the reality of how hurt his moronic, pig-headed little brother actually was made itself painfully known.

Dean sat heavily, sucking in air as the feeling subsided some, enough to let him breathe and realize that Sam would be okay.

"Technically he wasn't lying." John corrected when he'd caught his breath. "We never did give him a chance to tell us."

"There was the small matter of a whole army of Wraith coming at us." Dean replied, looking up at Elizabeth and trying to figure out where they'd left off in the story. "The intel wasn't completely wrong. There is a ZPM there."

John nodded. "At least one, maybe two. Rodney thinks they're buried."

"He thinks?"

"Well, we followed the signal to a series of caves that were blocked off. Possibly to hide whatever is underneath from the Wraith."

"I'm hearing a lot of maybes and possiblies, Colonel and not much fact."

John sighed. "Fact is, it could be a whole city, judging from the signal. But, before we could decide how best to proceed, Sam got hurt."

"Hurt how?"

John shifted and rolled his eyes. "He was behind us, watching our six. Rodney did something with a control crystal at the mouth of a cave and the ground rocked. I didn't see what happened, but when it stopped, Sam had fallen."

"It didn't seem bad at the time, hell, me and Sam have had way worse. He shook it off. McKay wanted to keep looking, Sam said he was fine. We worked through a few more of the cave openings and decided to make camp, only Sam was gone."

"Gone?" 

John scratched at the back of his head. "He told Rodney he thought he'd seen something and went to check it out. We doubled back to the spot and all we found was Sam's radio. We didn't even know there were Wraith on the planet. There was no indication."

"Well, there was Sam saying something felt funny when we first got there." Dean countered. "Only he shook it off and said it was nothing just a few seconds later."

"Okay, then what happened?"

"We went looking for Sam." Dean said, standing and walking to the windows, looking out at the gate room. "We found Wraith instead."

"A lot of Wraith." John amended. "And we nearly didn't make it out of the trap, because that was when he stopped hiding."

"Hiding?"

Dean sighed and turned to look at her. "He's….learning. He seems to be able to control his end of this…connection."

"Not so much control as shut down. He somehow has found a way to block the two of us out for a time." John added.

"A lot longer this time." Dean didn't like it. He didn't like the feeling that Sam was hiding from him. "He slipped up the control when she was…" He looked to John, still not entirely sure what had been going on between the bitch and Sam.

"Torturing him." John supplied. There was a flurry of feelings from John, about something similar, but he pushed them away. "From what I could tell, she was feeding on him, then restoring him."

"Only that ain't what it looked like when we found him." Though now that he knew it was Meg, he understood that better. She'd always had the hots for Sam and in this Wraith queen she'd found new ways to explore her obsession.

"What do you mean?"

"It was…she didn't go for the chest." John stood too, restless. "She had him tied to a tree and was…all over him. She was feeding from his thigh." John touched the inside of his thigh where they'd found her hand on Sam. 

"Sam said she baited you?" 

John shrugged. "That's about the most he's said. We found him, decimated the Wraith around the queen, cut him loose and we ran for the gate. We were too busy defending our asses to ask questions."

Elizabeth nodded. "I guess I'll just have to ask Sam then, once Carson lets me know he's okay."

 

"Well, young man, it looks like you'll live for another day." Carson said, crossing his arms. "Though I'm not pleased with the amount of enzyme she pumped into you, I'm imagining that without it you might not have made it back to the gate."

He set a chart down on the table next to the bed. "The knife wound seems clean. Your hip is bruised and those ribs are going to hurt for a few days. I want you to take it easy while they heal."

"I'll make sure of it." 

Sam looked up as Dean joined them. He didn't look Sam in the eye, but Sam could tell he wasn't as angry as he had been.

"I'll tie him to his bed if I have to."

Sam got an image of exactly that, though not in the way he imagined Carson would assume, and he could feel a blush creeping up his neck. Ronon roused himself from beside the bed, grinning crookedly at them both. "I'll go find some rope."

Dean chuckled as the big man headed out of the infirmary. 

"I'm sure that won't be necessary." Carson said, approaching with a bottle of pills. "I can give you something to help with the pain."

Sam shook his head. "I don't need it."

Dean reached across him and took the bottle. "Trust me, Sam. If you don't need it, I need you to take it." He tucked the pills into his pocket and moved in to help Sam up. "If you're done with him, Doc…"

"Sure, but I want to see him back here in a few days, just to make sure those ribs are healing."

Sam didn't fight when Dean supported him, didn't try to talk while they limped through the halls. It wasn’t until they were safely back in their room and Dean started trying to undress him that Sam reacted, slapping his hands away.

“I think I can manage.”

Dean lifted an eyebrow and stepped back. “I’m just trying to help.”

Sam turned away and pulled off the torn and bloody pants. “Your kind of help usually ends up with the two of us in bed.”

Dean snorted. “Better than tied to a tree being molested by the Wraith.”

Sam sighed and turned to look at him. “So…you’re pissed, I get it.”

“Do you?” Dean walked to the windows and looked out at them. “I’m not convinced you do.”

Sam sighed again and rummaged for a clean pair of pants. “It wasn’t as though I liked it.”

Dean turned, his eyes narrowing. “Your body seemed to like something she was doing.”

Sam hung his head. That much was true. They had showed up while she was filling him with life, bringing him back from nearly dead. “I couldn’t control that. It was…” He shrugged. 

Dean pushed off the window, stalking toward him. “Show me.”

Sam frowned. “What?” 

“I don’t know because you blocked it from me. Show me.”

Sam shook his head. “No.”

“I’m not asking Sam.” Dean crowded him toward the bed, until Sam’s knees hit and he sat down. “I want to know what happened.”

Sam swallowed hard. “You don’t need to—“

“Said I wasn’t asking.” Dean had both hands on his shoulders and Sam could feel him trying to make a connection mentally beyond the physical sensations of Sam’s body. Tentatively, Sam reached out for him, the memory snapping into place.

_”So many things I can do in this body Sam.” She whispered the words in his ear as her hand slid down to the open tear in his pants, settling high on his thigh, the back of her hand rubbing against his groin. “You taste so good.” Her tongue licked his jaw as she started feeding._

_Sam shivered and strained against the restraints that held him to the tree. He could feel her in his head as her mouth closed over his. “I could do this forever.” She lifted her hand from his thigh, leaving him sagging against the tree, licking over the sucker in her hand. “Maybe I’ll keep you for myself instead of dragging you back to Daddy.”_

_Her hand came back to his thigh, and heat rushed into him. He gasped for air, his cock hardening, his face flushing. “Is this for me, Sammy?” Her hand rubbed over his cock, her mouth closing on his neck. “I can make you immortal.”_

_“Want more?” She released him, her hand sliding back over the wound. “I can make you strong, powerful. Big brother wouldn’t be able to hold you back ever again.” She closed her eyes and fed more into him. Fire raced along his nerves, into his muscles, burning into him. Pain faded as she gave him more, and in it’s place was power._

_He yanked on the restraints, surprised when they gave and he grabbed at her hair, attempting to pull her off of him. She reversed the flow of energy, sucking life out of him as he struggled, and they crashed to the ground as gunfire erupted out of the trees._

Dean let go of him, stepping back a half step as he rubbed over his face. It was clear that the arousal had bled through. Dean rubbed at his thigh like he could feel her hand there.

“You were gone a long time.” Dean said after a few minutes, though the way he said it made Sam think he meant more than physically.

Sam moved back on the bed. “I was hurting. The fall…my hip…I figured you’d do your job better if I just…” He gestured at his head. “Since I can control it, it makes sense that I should.”

The anger flared back through his brother. “No Sam. Damn it.” Dean moved fast, pinning Sam down, sitting on his thighs. “You don’t get it. This thing…” He gestured between them. “It’s a good thing.”

Sam shook his head. “You don’t mean that.” Dean had hated the damn collars right from the beginning. The uninterrupted connection between them, between them and John, making them dependent on each other, and the colonel, trapping them here, away from the hunt that Dean loved…Dean grabbed his hand, interrupting his thoughts and putting Sam’s hand against his heart.

“Ever since the thing with Yellow Eyes, this connection has been stronger…except when you block us out. You see what it’s done for me and John. The way we’re in sync. You’re the one fighting it.”

“Dean…” He cut Sam off with his mouth, kissing him soundly, his tongue surging into Sam’s mouth possessively. 

“Stop fighting.” Dean said softly.

Desire flushed through Dean and into Sam, images of them naked, of John and Ronon and various sex acts flooding him until Sam was panting and hitching his hips up toward Dean.

“Now that is a pretty picture.” Ronon said from the doorway. 

Sam looked up at Ronon’s grin, just as Ronon tossed Dean a pair of handcuffs. “Couldn’t find any rope.”

“These will do.” Dean said, slipping one cuff around Sam’s wrist.

“Wait…I’m supposed to rest.” Sam protested, trying to buck Dean off as Dean caught his second wrist and cuffed them, slipping the chain up onto the clip they had put in the wall above the head of the bed. With it clasped, Sam was stuck until one of them let him up.

Dean grinned down at him. "So you rest right there."

He climbed off the bed and crooked his finger at Ronon. "You wouldn't." Sam said as Dean grabbed a handful of dreadlocks and dragged Ronon in for a wet, messy kiss. "Who am I kidding, you would. You are."

Ronon's hand was in Dean's pants and Sam could feel it on his cock. "Guys…" Sam struggled to get the cuffs free from the locking clip, but the cuffs were too tight, the chain between them too short. Ronon's hand squeezed, pulled down Dean's cock and Sam whimpered as his own cock responded.

"Dean…please…" Sam whined, his hips coming up off the mattress. 

Ronon chuckled, pulling his hand out of Dean's pants and using it to rip his shirt open. Sam groaned, watching Ronon lean in to lick at Dean's nipples, and when Ronon bit, both Dean and Sam moaned in unison.

Dean turned to look at Sam, his eyes dark and dangerous. His hand pulled back, pulling Ronon off him. Their eyes met and Dean pushed Ronon down. Ronon growled, tossing his head, but going down to his knees. Dean eased his cock out and Ronon took it eagerly into his mouth.

Hot, wet heat surrounded Sam's cock, even though no one was touching him. He arched up off the bed, trying to find friction. "Still think this is a bad thing, Sammy?" Dean asked as Ronon growled around his cock. 

"Stop teasing." Sam said, lifting his head to look at Dean, and then wishing he hadn't. He closed his eyes, and yet, could still see the way Ronon was deep throating his brother's dick.

Hands clasped Dean's ass, pulling him closer to Ronon and Sam could feel him swallow, growl, and Dean came in a hot rush down Ronon's throat.

The door opened suddenly and John burst in, his eyes dancing over the three of them before he grabbed Dean and kissed him. He was panting when he pulled back. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to carry on a conversation with Teyla and Elizabeth with the three of you in here doing this?"

"Just trying to get a point across to Sam." Dean said.

"Yeah, and what point is that?"

Dean reached for John's cock, stroking it slow and hard. Sam fought the sensation and the need to thrust up, but lost the fight when John made a sound somewhere between a whine and a whimper. 

"That shutting us out is bad…that he wants us to feel what he's feeling…" Dean dropped to one knee and pulled John's cock out, swallowing it and giving Sam the simultaneous sensations of having a cock on his tongue and a tongue on his cock. John rocked on his feet as Ronon stood.

Sam cried in frustration when he could taste Ronon's tongue.

"And…ah…this is…helping?" John asked.

Ronon was helping him out of his clothes while Dean continued to work on his cock.

"No." Sam gasped. "Not helping. Teasing."

Dean chuckled and leaned back to look at him. "No one is touching you, little brother. Not until you promise me you'll stop shutting us out."

"Dean." His voice whined out his brother's name and Sam renewed his efforts to get free. Dean didn't know what he was asking, didn't know the extent of what was happening inside him. Ever since their trip back to earth, Sam had been changing, and he'd promised himself not to worry Dean with it.

"Nope, not listening." Dean said, turning back to John. 

"I think he's going to…"John started to say, but he trailed off as Dean closed his mouth over him. "No, this is good."

"John…come on man." Sam swallowed around the sensation of John's cock, and felt John respond. 

"Oh, see, now that's cheating." John said, his hand in Dean's hair, pulling him back. He tugged until Dean was standing, then kissed him. "Naked."

Dean moved to strip, Ronon stepping in to help and John turned to the bed, leaning in to kiss Sam soundly. "I'm with Dean on this one, Sam. Need you to understand."

He was gone before Sam could respond, standing with his back to Sam as he pulled Dean in again, kissing him possessively. Sam could taste him, wanted to taste more. When Ronon moved in behind Dean, Sam groaned, arching up away from the feeling of the man's cock against his brother's leg. 

Dean was looking at him, but Sam kept his eyes closed, the better to focus on the sensation as Ronon's fingers pressed into Dean. Dean hissed and leaned in to John, then Dean was fingering his way into John and Sam fought the urge to cry out in response to the combined sensation.  
John moved back, sitting on the end of the bed, his back still to Sam, one leg lifting up and his foot pressing into the mattress, opening himself up to Dean. 

Dean’s eyes flicked to Sam before he stepped in, holding his cock in one hand and guiding it toward John’s waiting ass. Sam closed his eyes so he didn’t have to see it, only to have his head fill first with Dean’s view of John, then John’s view of Dean and holy fuck but that was worse.

He sucked in air and tried to close the connection, but with them so close and the intensity of emotion and physical sensation he couldn’t even dampen it. His foot touched John’s arm and doubled the input, and it didn’t matter that that was the only contact he was getting, Sam was panting and squirming against the feeling of fullness and the tight squeeze of ass around his cock, and Sam couldn’t have stopped the orgasm from ripping through him if he’d been actually controlling the action.

His cock smeared come inside his boxers as he thrust weakly against air. He pulled at the cuffs in a vain attempt to free his hands and when that didn’t work, he shook the whole bed in his flailing attempt to get free.

None of which affected the other three in the slightest. John groaned a deep, chesty sound as Dean pushed into him. Then there was Ronon, still stroking his fingers into Dean, still prepping him and Sam wasn’t sure he was going to survive what came next. 

Dean stilled in his thrusting, holding himself inside John, his right leg up over John’s left, his foot pushing into the mattress, giving Ronon room. Dean’s head dropped forward as Ronon lined up and pressed in. 

Sam gasped for air, his own ass lifted up off the bed in an attempt to…he wasn’t sure exactly, since there was nothing actually there, just the feeling of John’s ass filled and Dean’s ass getting filled and Sam’s ass clenching around the emptiness that felt like he was getting double fucked.

There was a whining noise that Sam couldn’t place and he opened his eyes, swallowing hard as he watched Ronon’s face, grateful that there was at least one of them not trying to torture him with the way his body felt. Ronon’s lips curled up in a snarl as he thrust into Dean, pushing him, in turn, harder into John.

Sam realized then that the whining noise was coming from his own mouth, his hips jerking, his cock still hard, still leaking come, sliding wetly inside his boxers. He growled instead, his foot sliding up onto John’s chest in search of contact. Dean’s hand closed around his ankle and firmly pushed the foot away. 

“Dean, please…please…come on.” Sam begged.

“You gotta promise.” Dean said, sweat dripping off of his face and onto John. Behind him, Ronon pulled Dean’s head back, nipping at this exposed neck. His other hand snaked around Dean to grab John’s dick and Sam’s own dick jumped.

“Dean…” Sam shook his head, not ready to give in, not over sex. 

“I have an idea.” John said, stopping them. He pushed at Dean’s hips until Dean pulled out, then tugged him forward.

“No…” Sam protested as he realized what John wanted. “Please…” 

Dean grinned at him, his tongue caught between his teeth as he repositioned himself over John. There was lube, and the faces Dean made as he worked John’s cock in alongside Ronon’s were enough to make Sam start begging again, though words failed him as his eyes rolled closed and his body clenched around the feeling. 

“Fuck.” Dean held Sam’s ankle, squeezing as they filled him and slowly rocked their bodies together. “Fuck…feel that Sammy? Feel that?”

Of course he felt it, of course he did. Sam wanted to shout at him, scream…but all that came out were whimpers of need. Ronon growled and Sam knew the sound was a warning that he was close. Dean rocked back against him and heat rushed inside him, bathing John’s cock and bringing him over the edge.

Sam keened as his need for physical contact ratcheted up when they started to separate. Dean crawled toward him, pushing his body down to the mattress. His hands peeled wet boxers down Sam’s legs and he crawled up on top of Sam, their cocks hard and pressed together as he leaned down to kiss Sam deeply.

“What do you say, Sam…do we keep you handcuffed here while we entertain each other…or are you going to promise me you’ll stop hiding?” 

Sam looked up at him as his hand slide around both of them, holding their cocks together. “Dean…”

Dean leaned in, licking over his lips, kissing down to his ear. “I get that you’re scared Sam…but I’m scared too. Don’t shut me out.”

Sam nodded against him. “Okay…okay…you win.”

Dean sucked on his ear and stroked their cocks together, hard and fast, bringing Sam right to the edge before he stopped. Sam whined and Dean pressed their lips together to capture the sound. “I want to come inside you.” Dean said, eyes flashing as he spread Sam open. “Want to feel it, Sam.”

Sam had lost track of Ronon and John, but found them again as Dean pushed into him, John pressing himself along Dean’s back while Ronon stretched out on the bed beside Sam, dipping his head to chase the line of muscle across Sam’s stomach.

Dean thrust in, hissing as he pulled out again. Ronon leaned in to lick over the tip of Sam’s cock before Dean was pushing back in. It was all going to be too much again too fast and Sam couldn’t stop it. Ronon nipped at his navel, then up to his nipples, sucking one into his mouth and teasing it with his teeth.

Sam arched up into Dean, so close to coming again. When John reached around between them and grabbed Sam’s cock, it was all he needed, yelling as he fell over the edge, painting Dean’s chest with come.

Dean fucked into him harder and faster after that, finishing quickly. John pulled him away and gestured toward the bathroom with his head. “I need a moment.”

Ronon slid away, following Dean. John climbed up to straddle over Sam, mindful of the bandages. “Your brother means well, but I’m not your brother. I’m your boss.”

Sam squirmed, not quite able to look him in the eye. “I’m not talking about the collars or that whole thing. You’re a member of my team now and I need to know that I can rely on you Sam.”

That made Sam look up. “You can.”

“Can I? You disappeared.”

Sam nodded. “I’m sorry. I told McKay—“

John put a finger on his mouth. “I don’t want excuses. I don’t want apologies. I want you to understand that this isn’t just about you and your brother anymore. You could have died out there.”

“Or worse.” Sam muttered without realizing he was speaking out loud.

“See, that right there is part of what I’m talking about. We need to know.”

Sam nodded. “I know. I do. Just…Let me up. I’ll tell you everything.”

John leaned up to release him, then rolled to the side to find the key to the cuffs on the nightstand. “I’ll let them know they can come out, but I want the whole story.”

Sam nodded, rubbing at his hands. 

Dean emerged from the bathroom, tossing Sam a wash cloth. Sam caught it and cleaned himself up, opting for sweat pants instead of the uniform pants he had pulled out before the sex.

While he was dressing the others covered up, taking seats in the small sitting area, waiting for him to fulfill his promise. "So, I was watching our flank, mostly because I wasn't sure I could climb up where you were, my hip was…" Sam shook his head. "I thought I saw something, and I told McKay I was going to look. At first, it didn't seem like anything. Then my head started to hurt, and I could hear her…not like the Wraith her, but Meg…when she was Meg. I turned to come back, pulled out my radio…but got hit by a stunner."

Sam limped toward them. "When I came to I was tied to the tree and she was playing with my knife. She cut me, called me by name…that's when I knew who she was." Sam swallowed, leaning on the back of the chair where Ronon sat. "The next hours are a blur. She fed on me, revived me, over and over. Talked about getting home, about how yellow eyes would love the Wraith."

"Yeah, cause what we need is a whole fucking army of demon possessed life suckers." Dean scoffed.

"Yeah…trust me." Sam rubbed his face. "She's completely insane."

"What was that bit about her 'Daddy'?" John asked. "Yeah, I caught that too."

Sam closed his eyes, feeling very on display. "Yellow Eyes…he's got some…plan for me, for people like me." 

"People like you?" Ronon asked. 

Sam gestured at his head. "Something to do with the visions I guess. We don't really know…that thing in that ghost town is the closest we've come." Sam's stomach twisted around the memory, the easy way he could have given in…the desire to just let go, stop fighting…to reach inside him and—

"Hey." Dean was suddenly there, hands cupping Sam's face. "Stop. You didn't."

Sam pulled back. "No, but I could have. I would have."

"No, you wouldn't." Dean argued.

"You don't know that Dean. You didn't know that then. You shot me, remember?"

"I was beat up and hurt and half out of my mind, Sam. I know you. Dad was wrong."

Sam closed his eyes. He clamped down on the fear that his father wasn't wrong, that Sam was destined to fall. Dean's hand caught his chin and his eyes sought out Sam's. "He was wrong."

Sam sagged, not really denying it, but not accepting it either. "If that's all, I'm tired. I'd like to get some sleep."

Dean started to argue, but John stood. "I think that's a good idea. We're down for a few days. You boys get some rest." He headed for the door, Ronon joining him.

Sam crawled into bed, not surprised when Dean stood hovering near him. "Sam…"

"Dean, can we just…sleep? We can talk tomorrow."

Dean slid into the bed, drawing Sam up close to him. "Okay, but we aren't done."

Sam nodded and closed his eyes, willing sleep to take him quickly so he didn't have to listen to Dean's echoing doubts that belayed his words.

 

"I thought you were supposed to rest." Ronon said as Sam joined him in the gym.

"I bored with resting." Sam responded, his tone dark, his face set and hard. 

"Perhaps you should visit with Dr. Beckett before you engage in anything physical." Teyla offered, wiping her face and setting her weapons aside. 

"Carson isn't going to help." Sam said, still looking at Ronon with hungry eyes. "I'm tired of being babied."

Ronon looked at Teyla and nodded that he had this, that he could handle Sam. She nodded in return and gathered her things. "I will leave you to it, then."

Ronon set aside his own weapon and stretched his arms out. "You sure about this?"

"I'm sure." Sam stripped off his shirt, exposing bruises that hadn't yet healed. He stretched and his joints cracked as he circled. 

"You know, Dean is worried for you."

"He should be." Sam responded, moving in to make the first blow.

Ronon blocked it easily, stepping to the side. Obviously the kid had something going on in his head, and Ronon knew that this was a way for him to stop thinking about it, but he wasn't convinced that was the best plan.

While he wasn't connected to the three of them, he couldn't not see that Sam was hurting, ever since the whole thing back on Earth, Sam had been withdrawn. Ronon let him take a few more punches, moving around him. Sam moved in tandem, finding an opening and dropping Ronon.

They rolled and Ronon pinned him. "You're not evil." Ronon said, but before the words were out, Sam managed to get them turned again, his leg around Ronon's torso, sending him to the mat.

"You don't know that." Sam landed a solid punch to his jaw and scrambled back to his feet.

"I do." Ronon rolled up to his feet and circled. They traded a few blows before Sam got a hand on his dreadlocks and yanked. Ronon grabbed his hand and they struggled before Ronon landed a punch with his other hand and Sam let go, staggering backward. "Sneaky, devious and fight like a girl, yeah. Evil? No."

Ronon stalked forward, catching Sam while he was still recovering and getting his foot behind Sam's, sending him crashing to the mat. He pinned him again, sitting on his hips, grinding down against him when Sam would have tried to get up. Ronon grinned down at him when he got the response he wanted, Sam's cock hardening under him.

"I can't see into your head. But I know how to read people." Sam bucked and Ronon shoved him into the mat. "Stay down and listen to me."

Sam struggled for a minute, then gave up, sagging into the mat under him. "Fine, I'm listening."

"No, you're not." Ronon shook his head and settled his hands against the bruises over Sam's ribs. Sam hissed as he pressed in. Ronon cocked his head and pressed a little harder. "No matter what you're thinking, you're not going to hurt him."

"I'm hurting him every day." Sam said softly. He covered his face. For a long minute he didn't move except for a slight shaking of his body. Ronon was startled to realize he was crying. He climbed up and held his hand down to help Sam up. Sam rubbed his face and crossed to the bench. "He…the demon told me things." He wiped a towel over his face and didn't look up. "He said he made me this way."

"What way?" Ronon asked, taking the towel to wipe his own face.

Sam's eyes closed. "The way I want him…Dean I mean. He said that the visions and the other stuff all came from him too. That he wanted me, that I was chosen to be his." He shook his head. "I can't help but thinking my father was right."

Ronon nodded slowly, thinking through what he knew of the situation. "You know what I see when you look at Dean?"

Sam blinked up at him. "Love. Now, you guys may have a different idea about things, but you love him and he loves you."

"Sometimes love just isn't enough." Sam said, standing. "But thanks for the work out." 

He headed for the door, leaving Ronon to stare after him, not sure he'd even begun to get through that thick head.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following the run in with Wraith-Meg, and the revelations that spawned, Sam is doing his best to appear open and sharing with his brother and John, but neither of them are fully buying it. They set out to get the rest of the truth.

“Sam?” Dean had given his brother space, had tried not to push, but they were back up on rotation, and their team was moving out, so his brother really needed to get his shit together. Dean stepped around the pile of gear near the door just as Sam burst out the door of the bathroom. “There you are.”

“Yeah, sorry. Running late. I got a stupid bloody nose.” He pulled his vest on over the uniform jacket. “I think it’s all this salt air.”

“You okay?” Dean asked, turning Sam so he could get a look at his face.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Because if you’re not—“

“Dean, stop.” 

Sam was opened up to him, letting Dean feel whatever he was feeling and Dean took a good feel around. “Yeah, okay. Good. John’s waiting.”

Things had been tense at times since they’d found Meg inside a Wraith queen, since he and John had realized that Sam had learned how to control his end of the connection…since they had forced Sam to realize he couldn’t keep hiding from them. But whenever they pressed, Sam would open up, even if he wasn’t talking, he was at least not blocking anything that Dean could tell.

Sam grabbed at his gear and led the way out of their room and down the hall. John and Rodney were waiting by the gate. “Where are Ronon and Teyla?” Sam asked.

Dean clapped a hand to his shoulder. “If you had made it to the briefing, you’d know they’re helping Lorne out.”

“Just the four of us this trip.” John said.

Sam nodded and buckled his pack on, securing his gun to his thigh. “And we’re going to P2X-981? The place with the outpost Rodney wanted to look at?”

“And an annoying number of children.” Rodney added, distaste showing on his face.

The gate came to life and Elizabeth stepped out to see them off. Dean nodded her way as he followed Sam to the gate, falling in to step with John. “Everything okay?” John asked softly as Sam and Rodney disappeared into the event horizon.

Dean nodded. “I think so.” They stepped through the gate and out onto a sunshine drenched afternoon. The local elders were waiting for them, though elders was a bit of an exaggeration considering none of them were much older than 30.

“Colonel Sheppard, it is good to see you again.”

“Damon Elder, I’d like you to meet my newest team members, Sam and Dean.”

“It is our pleasure.” The speaker was a man of maybe 28 with the blondest hair Dean had ever seen. “As requested, we have cleared the path to the pass. Tomorrow, our guides will take you there. Tonight, we will feast and thank the Ancestors for good friends.”

Dean did his best not to roll his eyes. They’d only been at this for a few months and he was already done with the whole feasting and harvest celebration crap. Sam seemed to enjoy it, taking notes on the tablet Elizabeth had given him, like he was some sort of anthropologist. Dean followed Sheppard away from the gate and down a long trail through dense woods to a village that looked medieval at best.

Of course, Weir had been giving them easy missions, and Dean knew that the rest of the team, except possibly McKay, were restless. He was too. But, after the whole thing with Meg and the concern that came with demons possessing monsters, not to mention Sam’s emotional state and the uncertainty of his psychic shit, none of them really wanted to push too hard just yet either.

Fortunately for Teyla and Ronon, they could find a little action with other teams. The connection that bound Dean to Sheppard and Sam meant they were stuck babysitting McKay. Which meant feasts.

McKay hadn’t been kidding about the kids, Dean realized as they made their way to the town square. There seemed to be at least three to every adult he could see, and they all came running toward them, squealing with excitement.

“Wow.”

Sheppard grinned at him. “They settle down. Just give it a few minutes.”

Sam laughed and Dean looked up to see two girls grabbing his hands, pulling him toward a tiny table strewn with tiny dishes and dolls. “Well, I guess we don’t have to worry about him.” John said, turning to Damon Elder. “So, any trouble since we were last here?”

“No, Colonel Sheppard, it has been a most peaceful year. We are grateful for your help.”

“Help?” Dean asked. Unlike his younger brother, he hadn’t read every single mission report.

“Our first trip here we helped them broker a deal with another village that ended a centuries worth of raids.” 

Dean nodded and watched his brother play with the kids. It was nice to see him relax a little. “Okay, so….what are we doing here?”

“There’s an outpost up in the mountains. We think the Ancients were watching these people, and protecting them. Rodney wants a closer look at the tech.”

Of course he did. “So, we babysit?”

“We babysit.” John agreed.

“Awesome.”

 

Sam moved around the console where Rodney was working, his eyes slipping over the various controls, then back to the door. He was on guard duty, keeping Rodney safe in here while his brother and John walked a perimeter outside to make sure they didn’t have any uninvited guests.

Not that any of them really expected any.

“Do you mind?” Rodney asked, not looking up from what he was doing.

“What am I doing?” Sam asked, stopping his fifth or sixth circuit of the room.

“Hovering.”

“I’m walking.” Sam argued. 

“In circles. Around me. It’s making me nervous.”

“Sorry. What would you rather I did?” 

Finally Rodney looked up, exasperated. “Something else?”

“I am supposed to keep an eye on you.”

Rodney sighed and shook his head. 

Sam stopped at the doorway and turned to look at Rodney. The brilliant man looked tired, cranky. “You don’t like us very much.” Sam said softly.

“What?” Rodney looked up, scowling. “I never said that.”

“You don’t have to. It’s in the way you ignore us, the way we irritate you.”

Rodney shook his head. “No. Everyone irritates me. You’re not special.” He leaned in, then pulled his table to him. “Now, if we’re done, I have work to do.”

“I’ll leave you to it.” 

Sam stepped out of the room, taking up station outside the door instead. Dean and John would be back soon and he’d be able to trade places, move around a bit. Standing still wasn’t really something he was good at anymore.

He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. There seemed to be so little he was good at anymore. Ever since their run in with Henrickson…with the demon. At least in the months since they’d run into Meg again he’d been able to find some semblance of balance. Of course, part of that was the fact that Elizabeth kept them on milk-run missions like this one. Very little chance of running into trouble.

In the meantime, other teams were hunting for Meg and her hive. He knew that Ronon and John and even Dean were chaffing at the inaction. He knew it was his fault. He just hadn’t been able to figure out a way around it. Though, to be fair, they hadn’t tested the distance issue in a while.

“Hey.” 

Sam looked up as Dean joined him. “Hey.”

“It’s all quiet out there.” Dean said, glancing around Sam into the room.

“Here too. McKay is…working.” Sam sighed and leaned back against the wall. “I’m sorry.”

Dean frowned at him. “Why?”

“I know you’d rather be somewhere else.” He glanced down the hall as Sheppard started toward them. “All of you.”

“To hear McKay tell it, this is important.” Dean countered. “Nothing to be sorry about.”

“Who’s sorry?”

Sam felt the way Dean and John sort of snapped together as they got close. It was amazing really, how in sync they had become. Suddenly John was in his face, holding a hand to the side of Sam’s head. “Stop.” His voice was soft, but his word cut through Sam’s thought pattern. “No self pity here. None.”

Sam nodded, closing his eyes and pulling back into himself. 

John stepped back as Rodney appeared, still frowning. “I’m done here.” Rodney said.

“And?” John asked.

Rodney shook his head. “And nothing. It really isn’t much more than an observation point. No real technology that we haven’t seen. No ZPM. There’s a big database on local wildlife, maybe some interesting research on edible plant life that I’ll hand off to the botany department, but that’s it.” He poked at his tablet, then looked up. “We can go.”

“Just like that?” Dean asked as Rodney headed for the door.

“They don’t all have to end up with screams and running for the gate.” Rodney responded, still moving away from them.

“Come on. If we hurry, we can get back in time for movie night.” Sheppard said. “Daedalus brought a whole new batch of DVDs.”

“Yeah, cause that’s what I live for.” Dean said, following him.

John turned to look at him, one eyebrow lifting. Sam could feel the direct surge of desire that said there was a lot more than DVDs waiting for him if he hurried and Dean’s body language changed almost immediately. Sam couldn’t help but laugh as Dean waggled his eyebrows and reached back to grab Sam by his vest. 

“Come on, Sammy. Don’t want to miss movie night.”

 

Sam was dripping sweat and panting as his sparring partners backed off. He grabbed at his towel and wiped his face, lifting a hand as the two lieutenants grabbed their gear and headed out of the gym to get ready for their shift. 

“Dean said I’d find you here.”

Sam whirled, relaxing a little when it was Sheppard who was filling the doorway.

“Yeah, needed a good work out.”

“Dean says you’ve been down here a lot.”

Sam could feel his concern, despite the very relaxed tone in his voice. He shrugged and nodded. “Just trying to get in better shape.”

John moved into the room, running his hand over the locking mechanism as the door closed. “From where I stand, you’re in pretty good shape already?”

His eyes followed the line of Sam’s arms, down to his ass, then flicked back up to his face. Sam smirked and hung his head a little. “You looking with the eyes of a commanding officer, or the eyes of a guy who wants to get laid?”

John grinned. “Both?”

Sam shook his head. “Shouldn’t Dean be here?”

John held out his hands. “What, I can’t show an interest in you without him?”

Sam sort of shrugged. “I mean…he’s the one who’s supposed to…you know…take care of you.”

“And you’re supposed to take care of him.” John countered. “Nothing in there that says I can’t take care of you…or you take care of me.”

Sam licked his lips and dropped his towel. “What did you have in mind?”

John was frowning at him. “I mean…if you don’t want to…” He scratched at the back of his head. “I don’t want to push you.”

Sam shook his head. “That….I don’t mean…” He sat on the mat and dragged his bag closer, pulling out a bottle of water. “Hell, I don’t know what I mean.”

“Okay. Let’s start there.” John sat too, gesturing at Sam. “What’s going on with you?”

“What do you mean?” Sam asked, sipping at his water.

“Dean says you’re having nightmares, and nose bleeds.”

“Dean talks too much.” Sam pushed the anger away. He didn’t want to be angry with his brother. It wasn’t his fault. None of it was. “I’m better. Carson gave me a nose spray to try to get the nosebleeds to stop.”

“Okay. And the nightmares?” John asked.

Sam sighed. “I’ve been having nightmares since I was little.”

“But these are different somehow?”

He got up to pace, suddenly restless. John wasn’t wrong. They were different. Ever since Henrickson. But Dean couldn’t know. “I…” He huffed and turned, surprised to find John right there. His kiss caught Sam by surprise.

John’s hand caressed over Sam’s cheek, even as he pulled back. “Tell me.”

Sam hugged himself and turned away, not sure he could admit to the thoughts in his head, to the things the demon had done to him…said to him.

“I get that this is about the demon thing, back on earth.” John said. “And it’s something you’re trying to keep from Dean. I’m not Dean.” John followed him slowly as Sam moved around the room that was suddenly too small. “I can feel how scared you are, Sam. And it’s getting in the way of doing what you need to.”

“What I need to?” Sam didn’t even know what that was anymore. “We should be out there looking for her.”

“For the demon, who is inside a Wraith queen.”

Sam pulled a hand through sweaty hair and nodded. “We need to stop her.”

“Stop her from what?” John asked, moving closer.

Sam didn’t know, not really. 

“Is she the reason you’re working yourself to exhaustion when we aren’t out on a mission?” John’s hand touched his shoulder. “You think that if you just…what, get bigger, faster, stronger…somehow that will make the next encounter go the way you want it to?”

“No. Not exactly.” Sam turned to look at him. “I just…don’t want to fail. Again.”

“Fail at what?” John asked, his voice soft.

Sam closed his eyes. “Saving someone I love.” He swallowed the lump of fear. “In my dreams, Dean dies…the same way my mother did. The same way Jess did. And I can’t stop it.” His shoulders slumped as the scene replayed in his mind. “Just like when it was Jess…I saw it happen in my dreams weeks before it happened. Only this time I know they’re real.” He shuddered, and felt John behind him, strong and solid, even before his hands settled on Sam’s hips.

“How do you know?” John asked, his voice barely above a whisper in Sam’s ear.

Sam’s eyes closed against the pain as his stomach twisted. “I can feel it. Inside me.” Inside the part of him that belonged to the Yellow Eyed Demon.

John’s hands squeezed on his hips. “That, right there. What was that?”

Sam blinked, thinking he had blocked the mental overflow. “What?”

“You’re not the only one practicing, Sam.” John said, turning him around. “I need you to understand that I want to help you. I want to be more than just this guy you are stuck tethered to.”

Sam pulled away, but John followed him. “No. It’s bad enough…”

John stepped in front of him and stopped him, both hands on Sam’s chest. There was a strange feeling, like John was pushing to make himself felt across their connection, and then a pop, and Sam no longer had control of what flowed between them, the command structure built into the alien devices putting John in charge.

He backpedaled until he was against the wall, John’s hands hot on the skin of his chest, air burning in his lungs as he tried to escape a surge of emotion from John: frustration, fear, anger, affection…it was too much and he couldn’t escape it. Worse, he couldn’t stop his own surge of emotion over the connection either…all of the dread and self-loathing he’d been bottling up, and all the reasons for it…the images of Henrickson’s face, all twisted up, his eyes yellow, his breath foul as he whispered in Sam’s ear, told Sam what he was.

_”I can show you worlds you’ve never seen, Sammy.” His touch was cold on Sam’s overheated skin, his fingers pressing against bruises already there. “I can give Dean to you forever.”_

_“Get off me you son of a bitch.” He struggled against the chains, though he knew it was no use._

_“I can show you power like you’ve never known.” There was a thumb rubbing on Sam’s lip, pushing into his mouth. Blood coated his tongue and his body shivered. “That’s it, just like that night in your nursery, Sammy. The night I made you mine.”_

“No!” Sam pulled away, his whole body seizing up. “No. No. Stop.” He was falling and couldn’t breathe as panic and remembered pain crashed through him.

“Sam, hey, breathe. Come on, breathe.”

John was there, right there, his hands soothing, his presence nearly inside of him, pushing back the fear a little. Under the fear was another memory, one that Sam had fought to hide, the rush of strength, of arousal, of power that filled him when Henrickson’s blood filled his mouth. 

There was no denying it, no denying his reaction to it, his desire for it, the way his body craved it. Not with John so far inside him, not with his cock hard and pressing against John’s arm. John moved so that he was straddling Sam, pressing their cocks together. “Is that all of it?” John asked, rubbing against Sam. “Is there more?”

Sam wanted to deny it, but the heat where their bodies pressed together made it hard to think. Meg. The image of her inside that monster’s body, her hand so intimately pressed to his thigh filled him, the rush of her feeding life into him, so much more potent than just demon’s blood, it had blown his senses into orbit, filled him with a power he had never felt.

He tried to roll away, but John wouldn’t let him, his hand delving into Sam’s sweats, pulling his cock out. “I want to know, Sam.” John said, his own cock out now and he started to jack them both at once. 

It spilled through him then, the dreams…arguing with Dean, demons pouring through the gate, occupying Wraith armies, Dean pinned to the ceiling, bleeding out…his blood pouring over Sam’s face as he laughed.

Sam came suddenly, gasping. His come mixed with John’s, spilling against his stomach. He covered his face with his hands, but John pulled them away.

“Look at me, Sam.”

Dean was nearby, Sam could feel him….worried, frustrated…but letting John take the lead. Sam blinked, looking up at John. “You are not a bad man.”

Sam struggled to pull his hands free. “You don’t know that.”

“I do know that.” John didn’t let go, but sat back a little. “I know that the first thing you thought about doing with that power she gave you was killing her…but she took it away again before you could…and after that, you were too muddled by the torture of it to pull it together enough to try.”

Sam frowned up at him. “What?”

John shook his head. “Your brother was right. Sam, while you’re busy focusing on how good it felt, how you wanted more, you’ve completely over looked your initial reaction.” He let go of Sam’s hands and stood. “You need to get out of your own head a little bit.”  
“Wait. What?” Sam sat up suddenly, realizing that John’s words implied Dean already knew.

John actually laughed. “You sleep in the same bed, are psychically connected to him and have nightmares about it. Did you think you could keep it from him?”

“Shit. Shit.” Sam climbed to his feet. Dean was going to kill him now for sure. If he knew, if he could see…John grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

“He knows. He loves you. He is **not** going to kill you.”

“But, he…I—“

John kissed him, then headed for the door. “Maybe I should let him explain.”

The door opened and Dean stood there, fists clenched, his face red. “I’ve done what I can.” John said, kissing Dean lightly.

Dean didn’t say anything as John left and the door closed, or for a few minutes after that. Just as Sam was about to apologize, Dean surged across the room and grabbed him, pulling him in, covering Sam’s mouth with his own. Desire and love and more crashed into him, through him as Dean kissed him.

He was breathing hard when Dean finally ended the kiss and he opened his eyes, surprised to find them both on their knees, surprised more by the tears on his face…and the tears on Dean’s. “He can’t have you, Sam. He can never have you. You belong to me.” Dean’s kiss was fierce. “No matter what he tries to put inside you, Sammy, you are a Winchester first. Dad was wrong, Sam.”

The fervency of Dean’s belief was hard to deny, it swelled across their link, filling Sam up. He nodded, relinquishing himself into it. Maybe if he believed it too, it would be enough.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things have settled into something resembling normal for Sam and Dean on Atlantis, but as usual, that's just when things go sideways as Sam's visions return and they find evidence that Meg has attempted to bring daddy to Pegasus the hard way.

Sam looked up from his book as Ronon sat in the chair beside him. He was sweaty and slightly winded and he grinned, gesturing behind him. Sam didn't need to look, he could feel Dean dragging himself the last few steps, leaning against the door frame. Sam chuckled. "I take it Ronon took you for a run?"

Dean rolled his eyes and fought to catch his breath, moving to lean over the railing. "You…" He turned to lean on the railing and pointed at Ronon. "Are an evil son of a bitch."

Ronon just laughed and sat back in the chair.

Sam set his book down and turned his face to the sun, reveling in the comfort of the moment. It had been months now since they'd had a sighting of Meg. They were back on the rotation in earnest which had the whole team feeling much more at ease.

Things were good. He felt Dean's eyes and looked up, offering a smile. "John's heading back from his meeting." Sam could feel him, even though he was a ways away. He was happy.

"We're supposed to have a team meeting about tomorrow's mission." Dean said, wiping his face on his shirt. "I need a shower first." He pushed off the rail and headed back inside.

Sam stood himself, but his book dropped from his hands and he had to grab at the railing as pain lanced through his head and images slammed into him in quick succession, Wraith, villagers, fires…Meg. It ended as fast as it started, leaving Sam on one knee, his nose dripping red, his head tender. Ronon squatted beside him, waiting for it to pass before offering his hand. 

Sam let Ronon pull him up as he wiped at this nose with a shaking hand.

"It's been a while." Ronon observed, still holding Sam's elbow as they started moving inside. 

He nodded, gesturing to the door of his own room, rather than Dean's across the hall. He went into the bathroom to clean up and get the bleeding to stop before he pulled off his shirt and pulled on a clean one. John and Dean had both felt it, but he made sure they knew he was okay. 

He got the sense that there was nothing they could do, that whatever the vision showed him was already taking place somewhere, so there was no rush. He rubbed at his temples and took some ibuprofen before turning to find all of them standing there, waiting.

He shrugged. "Meg, they culled a village. We wouldn't get there in time to stop it."

"Did you recognize the village?" John asked softly. 

Sam shook his head. "No, I haven't been there."

"Okay. Let's grab some dinner and talk about the mission tomorrow." John said, clapping a hand to Sam's shoulder. They headed toward the mess hall, meeting Teyla as they turned out of the residential hall.

"Rodney should already be here." John said. Sure enough, Rodney was not only already there, but already sitting at a table with a full tray.

Sam grabbed a bottle of water and a sandwich and joined Rodney, frowning as Dean sat beside him and put a banana and an apple in front of him with a _push_ to eat one or the other. "I'm fine, Dean." Sam said quietly.

"I know." He was closed off though and Sam could only get that he was worried about the return of the visions, which he already knew.

Once they were all seated and eating Teyla told them what she knew about the people on the planet where they were going the next day. They were much like so many others in this galaxy, though they had managed to climb out of the shadows of the Wraith more so than others. No one was sure what had kept the Wraith at bay, but Teyla said they suspected it was because the planet was so far out.

"So, what is it we're hoping to find here?" Dean asked.

"Intelligence has indicated an increase in hive activity in the general region. Our mission is to relay that information and help them prepare for a return of the Wraith." John responded.

"It has been many generations since they have seen a culling." Teyla said. "Many among them do not believe the Wraith are still a threat. Some call them ghost stories, told to keep the people from straying from the village. It will not be easy."

"We'll just have to be convincing." Ronon responded. 

"And pay attention. There are Wraith in the area." John warned. "We don't take any chances." His eyes met Sam's, then moved to Teyla. "If any of you get even an inkling that there are Wraith around, you sound out and get to cover."

"Don't have to tell me twice." Sam said, picking up the banana. "I've had enough up close and personal with those things for one lifetime."

 

Sam was the first one prepped and ready to go, letting himself into his brother's room while Dean was still in the bathroom, laying out his gear on the bed. He caught himself before he knelt beside the bed as he finished. It bothered Dean when Sam gave in that completely to the programming of the technology that had changed their lives forever. 

Instead, he went to the windows, looking out at the vast expanse of water that surrounded them. There were times he could let himself forget that they were in a different galaxy, that they had left behind everything they ever knew. But that view always brought it home to him.

Dean was suddenly behind him, arms snaking around his waist, chin on Sam's shoulder. "You homesick?" Dean asked softly.

Sam shook his head. "Not really. Just thinking. Everything's different, and yet here we are, still hunting monsters." 

He could feel Dean's grin as he pulled away, crossing back to the bed to start getting dressed. "At least here, if you plug the monsters with enough bullets, they go down."

Sam crossed to the bed, automatically helping Dean, smoothing the shirt down his back, tucking it into his pants. "I do know how to dress myself, Sammy." Dean said.

"I know." Sam lifted his hands away. "Just…I want to help."

Dean kissed his cheek and pulled his vest up off the bed. "I know." 

Sam caught him as he pulled away, dragging him back and kissing him deeply. Behind Dean the door opened and John cleared his throat. "I could feel that all the way down the hall. You two going to stand there making out or are we going on this mission?"

Sam chuckled as he pulled back. "Sorry." He ducked around Dean to head to the door, but John caught his arm, leaning in to kiss him.

"When we get back…" John whispered and Sam's head filled with images of Dean and John and Sam naked and writhing together.

Dean groaned as he came their way. "Really?" 

John smirked and stepped back into the hall as Dean pressed down on his suddenly very prominent cock. "I mean, really?" Dean shook his head and tried to pretend he was bothered by it, but both Sam and John could feel that he wasn't. "Just try to keep it down when we're working, right?" 

"I make no promises." John said wryly, heading up the corridor. 

Sam and Dean fell into step behind him, their movements synchronized without trying. John signaled the control room and the chevrons on the gate started to light up. Dr. Weir appeared at the top of the stairs. "I don't need to remind you that time is short."

John nodded as the wormhole came to life. "I know, don't worry. We've got this."

Ronon was the first one through the gate, with Teyla and Rodney behind him. Sam and Dean followed, with John bringing up the rear. The air on the other side was hot and dry, a stiff wind carrying the smell of smoke. Sam froze, his hand on Dean's arm. "We're too late."

"What makes you say that?" John asked, his eyes darting around them.

"I just know."

"Teyla?" John looked to her and she shook her head.

"I sense no Wraith."

"Okay, we continue the mission. To the village. Ronon, on point."

The closer they got to the village, the more sure Sam was that he was right. As they topped the hill it became obvious. The stone buildings belched smoke out of doors and windows. Bodies lay strewn about the wreckage. 

"Spread out. Look for survivors." John said quietly, but Sam knew instinctively that there wouldn't be any. He and Dean took the left flank, moving into the village.

"Well, Meg was definitely here." Dean said, pulling Sam up from checking a body. He gestured at the stone wall of the nearest building where the words "Hi Sammy" were scrawled in what looked like blood.

"Dean!" 

They turned as one and ran for John's voice, coming to a screeching halt beside him where there was a large sigil, also painted in blood on the ground in the center of the village. "Do I want to know what this is?" John asked as Sam and Dean circled the sigil.

"You don't think…." Dean frowned and shook his head. "It wouldn't work, would it?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I mean…If we were home…"

"But we're not." Dean stood looking down at the sigil, hands on his hips, his face frowning. "So, it wouldn't work."

"Would one of you tell me what this is?" John growled, his frustration bleeding through loud and clear.

"It's a sigil, used to summon a demon." Sam said. "Judging by the size, maybe more than one."

"Maybe just a big one." Dean countered.

"You don't …" Sam shook his head. "He wouldn't come here."

"You don't know that Sam." Dean countered.

"Who are we talking about?" John asked, moving almost protectively closer to Sam.

"The yellow eyed son of a bitch that tried to get Sam to turn the last time we went home." Dean said, circling around to Sam's other side.

"I thought you said they couldn't come here with the trap in front of the gate."

Dean shook his head. "They can come through the gate, they'd just get stuck, but this…if it worked?"

"It's a lot of blood." Sam squatted down, reaching out a hand without actually touching the sigil. "They had to have drained two, maybe three people for it."

"Okay, I've heard enough. Fall back to the gate." John's hand fell on Sam's shoulder and Sam looked up as John sent the same message over the radio to the rest of the team.

They were quiet as they hiked back, but Sam could feel the concern rolling off both John and his brother. "I'm fine." Sam said as the stopped beside the dialing device. "Really."

"I don't like the idea that she could bring him here without us knowing." John said.

"We don't know that she did." Sam countered. "And even if she did, we'll deal with it. Same as we always do."

Dean scowled at him but Sam couldn't figure out what his problem was before the wormhole was opening and John was telling Atlantis they were coming back.

Dr. Weir met them as they came through the gate. "That was a short trip, Colonel Sheppard."

"Not much to see, Elizabeth. The Wraith beat us to the planet."

"It was far more than a culling." Teyla said as she unclipped her gun. "They left no one alive."

"It was Meg." Dean said. "She left us a note."

"Meg, the demon that was inside the Wraith queen." Dr. Weir looked concerned. "What was the note?"

"Just letting us know it was her." Sam said. "And that she tried to summon another demon."

"Tried?"

Sam shrugged. "We have no way of knowing if it worked."

"We just hope that it didn't." Dean said. "Because if it did, we have a whole different world of trouble than your people are prepared for."

"Okay, reports on my desk by the end of the day." 

Before Sam could respond, Dean had a hand on the back of his neck and was pushing him out of the gate room, toward their quarters. "Dean." He tried to pull away, only to find John on the other side, his hand on Sam's elbow.

Together they manhandled him into his room and right up to the wall. "What?" Sam asked, exasperated by his inability to read the emotions pouring off of them.

"No." Dean said, his brow pulled tight into a frown.

"No?" Sam shook his head, then looked to John. He wasn't any clearer than Dean. "I'm fine."

Dean's hand was on Sam's chest now, holding him to the wall. "He isn't like any other case, Sam."

"I know." Sam nodded, trying to exude calm and confidence.

"This is the son of a bitch that killed Mom and killed Dad."

Sam nodded, lifting a hand to cup Dean's face. "And he's still just a demon, Dean."

 _You were supposed to be safe here._ Sam heard the words just as if Dean had said them, though his brother's mouth never moved. 

Sam relaxed against the wall, understanding now that what Dean was hiding from him was fear, abject terror that if the Yellow Eyed demon could come here, he could get to Sam and if he got to Sam…. "I'm safe, Dean." He reached for John's hand and put it on Dean's on his chest, then covered both with his own. "Safer here than I would ever be back home. I have the two of you, Ronon, hell, I have military back up."

It took a minute for the fear to recede and Dean backed off, scratching at his head. 

"Okay, now one of you is going to explain to me why this guy freaks you out so much." John said, hands on his hips as Sam moved off the wall and into the sitting area of his room.

Sam picked up the worn leather journal that was on the sofa, offering it up to John. "He's the reason we are who we are, why Dad became a hunter, why we became hunters."

"He's worse than any of the other bad things we've come across. Every time we face him, he walks away unscathed." Dean said. "From what we've learned, Meg and other lower level demons are his….children."

"Of course, that's just what he's said himself. He's a demon. Demons lie." Sam countered.

"So what is it he wants with Sam?" John asked, leafing through the journal.

Dean dropped into the chair and kicked his feet up over the arm, dropping his vest beside it. "That is the big, soul sucking question." He sighed and shook his head. "All we know is that he was in Sam's room when he was a baby, and he killed our mother that night. Our father hunted him our whole lives and we finally got close a year ago."

"Which is when your father died?" John asked, sinking to a seat on the other end of the couch.

"Well, he tried to kill all of us." Sam said. "He…possessed Dad, nearly killed Dean. I had the Colt, but I couldn't just shoot him."

The room was quiet for a moment before John dropped the journal between him and Sam. "The Colt?"

Sam got up and went to the table beside his bed, pulling the gun out of the drawer and bringing it back. Dean's feet dropped and he sat up straight. "You brought it here?"

Sam ignored him, handing the gun to John. "It's a special gun, made by Samuel Colt to fight demons. It's said it can kill anything."

John looked the gun over, frowning up at Sam. "Doesn't look like much."

"Maybe not, but we know it kills vampires." Dean said, reaching for it.

"And it forced the Yellow Eyed Demon out of Dad." Sam added, dropping back to his seat. 

He could feel Dean staring at him, feel the play of fear and anger and uncertainty that bounced around inside his brother. "I brought it because I had a feeling we would need it." Sam said finally, meeting his brother's gaze. "No prophetic dreams or anything, just…when we were cleaning out the car, I didn't want to leave it behind. We might need it."

Dean stood and took the gun back to the nightstand, setting it back in the drawer and turning to look at them. "Okay. So what do we do next?"

A very strong image filled Sam's head, clearly from John about what they could do next and he chuckled, even as Dean's hand fell to his groin and he moaned. "Seriously?"

John grinned. "What? You thinking something else?" The images shifted, Sam on his knees, Dean's cock between his lips, John kneeling behind Sam, working his cock into Sam's ass.

Dean crossed the room, his hands already moving to get his pants open, his cock hard and filling his hand. John's hand was holding his own cock, rubbing it through the fabric of his pants. Despite Dean's protest, lust was rolling off of him as he approached, licking his lips as John reached a hand up, circling it around Dean's cock. 

Sam's own cock was stirring and he reached across to help John undo his pants, his hand delving in to ease out his cock. He licked across the tip and felt the echo, unsure if John had done the same to Dean or if had simply rippled over their connection. He opened his mouth and slid down John's length and this time he could make out the responses as John took Dean in and Sam's cock twitched in response. Sam blocked out the extra sensations, keeping his focus on John's need, at least until Dean's need intruded on his attention.

Dean shifted on his feet, pulling back and shoving his pants down. Obviously John's mouth wasn't enough. Sam eased off the couch, moving to Dean, sliding hands across his skin, guiding him toward the chair as he worked Dean's shirt up. 

John wasn't far behind, helping guide Dean so that he was bent forward, hands on the arms of the chair, legs kicked as wide as his pants would allow. Sam slid down his legs, kissing over Dean's thighs as his hands worked to free his feet of the military boots and pants. Dean's cock was hard against his cheek as John's fingers prepped Dean's ass and Sam turned his head, nuzzling into Dean's groin. 

Dean groaned and leaned forward as john pushed into him and Sam echoed the sound as the sensations washed over him, his cock hot and trapped in his pants. He licked along Dean's cock as he fumbled with his own zipper, getting it open and his cock in his hands. 

John's pace was increasing as the technology that bound the three of them together surged in response to their emotional states. Sam moved so that he was sitting with his back against the chair, guiding Dean's cock into his mouth and letting John's momentum do the work of moving.

Dean's hands pounded against the chair in way of warning seconds before his cock began to fill Sam's mouth and John's own orgasm rippled through their connection seconds later. Sam's orgasm was almost an afterthought, his body shivering as he came with just one hand loosely around his cock.

For a moment they were all still, breathing heavily, then John pulled back, dropping to the couch. Dean moved slowly, heading to the bathroom, leaving Sam sitting on the floor. John wasn't done, Sam could tell without really thinking about how. They would spend the night, the three of them, exhausting each other until they could sleep and maybe burn off some of the frustration and worry in the process.

 

_Blood rained down on his face, no matter which way he turned, hot and thick, until his skin was coated in it. Laughter burned the air and he wiped at his eyes frantically, trying to see. "Sam…" John's voice. He looked up, shaking as he watched John pinned to the ceiling, his hand reaching out as his stomach opened and fire licked around him._

_"No! Sam screamed and the laughter returned, turning him, making him take a stumbling step away from John, only to find Dean, his eyes dead and accusing as they stared down at him from above."_

"NO!" Sam sat up, sweating, his head pounding, blood pouring from his nose.

On either side of him Dean and John stirred, sitting up, wiping at sleepy eyes. "Sam?"

He pulled away from the hand Dean reached for him and climbed out of bed, heading for the bathroom to clean up the blood. He could taste it, could feel death clinging to him, darkness swirling around his feet, the cold hand of evil twisting around his stomach. 

He washed his face and pulled wet hands through his hair. He knew Dean and John were waiting for an explanation, but Sam wasn’t sure he could face them. Not with the knowledge that they would both die.

"Sam?"

He opened the door and stepped out, not looking up. "He's here. He's coming for me." Dean's hand was on his arm.

"He can't have you, Sammy." Dean said softly.

He let himself be cajoled back to bed, warm between them and their whispered reassurances that they would protect him, but Sam knew. The Yellow Eyed Demon was in the Pegasus galaxy and coming for Sam. And when he came, blood would rain from the sky.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Yellow Eyed Demon has found his way to the Pegasus galaxy, and he still has his eyes set on Sam, but his plans don't take into account that Sam isn't the boy he once was, and the gifts the demon has given him are augmented by the technology that binds him to John and Dean. If Sam gives in to the temptation of power, they could destroy the galaxy. But Sam isn't alone anymore, and no one is prepared for what happens when demon juiced Wraith enzyme comes into play.

Sam and Dean moved in tandem behind John, covering ground quickly through the Wraith ship. "Rodney, how's your end?" John asked across the open signal.

"Five more minutes." Rodney's voice sounded in Sam's ear.

"You've got two." John replied. 

They turned a corner and Sam "saw" the Wraith seconds before either of the others, his hand shooting out to grab the back of John's vest and yank him back, shoving Dean into the adjoining hallway just as two stunner blasts flew past them.

Sam turned and shot, taking down the Wraith before either John or Dean had fully recovered. "Everyone okay?"

"What was that?" John asked and Sam could feel him asking with more than his voice. 

Sam shrugged, not entirely certain himself. "I just…I knew he was there."

Dean frowned at him and pushed off the wall he'd ended up leaning against. "You're starting to get creepy with that shit, Sam."

He could feel the relief though and he offered a tight smile as John set out again. "Daedalus, this is Sheppard. We are moving into position."

"Ready to beam you out, Colonel."

"Roger. Stand by."

They turned another corner, and Sam felt the satisfaction and spike of desire as John spotted Ronon, who had been sent to watch Rodney's back while he got what they needed from the Wraith computers. "You set the C-4?" John asked.

Ronon nodded. "He's nearly finished."

"Rodney, get a move on." John called into the room behind Ronon.

_"Sam."_

Sam turned toward the sound, shaking his head as he took a step away. Dean's hand was on his arm, but he felt strangely distant as something….someone else pulled on his attention.

"Sam?" Dean was concerned and Sam wanted to reassure him, but someone was coming. He felt it…him…

_"Sammy, you know what I want."_

He took another step as a shadow moved into view down the hallway. _"Come to me, Sam."_

There was an odd sensation and everything tilted. The odd pull on his thoughts cracked and suddenly he was on his knees aboard the Daedalus, his nose bleeding. John and Dean were at his side instantly, pulling him up and holding him between them as they made for the infirmary.

He couldn't contain the fear rolling through him and he knew the others could feel it, but he said nothing until one of the nurses got his nose to stop bleeding and had cleaned up his face. When she left them alone to await the doctor, Sam swallowed and looked up at his brother and John. 

"It was him."

"You don't know that." Dean said, crossing his arms and looking away.

"I do know that. I could…feel him." Sam said, pushing down the panic that came with knowing that Meg had somehow succeeded in bringing the Yellow Eyed Demon to the Pegasus Galaxy. 

"Well, by now he's space dust then." John said, unconsciously mimicking Dean's stance , then shifting as he realized it. 

Sam shook his head lightly. "No, he'll get off the ship somehow." He knew it was true, despite the fact that their well placed explosives would completely cripple the ship, even if the secondary explosions they were meant to trigger didn't explode the whole thing.

"Are you sure it was him?" John asked.

Sam nodded and John echoed the nod. "Okay, I'm going up to the bridge to make sure we took out the Hive ship and start scanning the area for a dart or other way he could have escaped. You stay here until the doc clears you."

He laid back against the pillows on the bed, his head replaying the dreams he'd been having nearly every night since they had found that sigil in that burned out village…endless images of Dean and John dying, sticky heat of their blood on his face, the taste of power and blood on his tongue. 

"Stop." Dean said softly. "I keep telling you he can't have you."

"I know." Sam replied, not looking at him. "I know you keep saying it. Doesn't make it true though." He swallowed. "I've seen it Dean. I've seen you dying and I've seen me giving in, letting him change me."

"He's using your dreams to scare you, Sam, to drive you. You can't let him."

Sam sighed. "Easy for you to say." 

Dean sat beside him on the bed. "I know. Tell me what else I can do."

Sam licked his lips in took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Every dream and vision is showing me a little more." He took his brother's hand and held it. "I need you to trust me, even when it looks like I'm about to do something…" He looked up at his brother. "Just trust that you're right, that I won't go darkside. Believe in that for me, okay?" 

Dean nodded slowly. He pulled his hand free as the doctor approached, her stethoscope in hand. Sam submitted without complaint to her exam and even to the suggestion that he see Carson for yet another scan when they got back to Atlantis. It was easier than insisting he was all right. 

 

John Sheppard was tired. For nearly a month they had been searching for the demon Meg and whatever or whoever she had managed to bring through that sigil. It had been a month in which they had all sustained injuries, a month of false alarms and near misses, and he was tired.

And if he was tired, he knew the boys had to be too. There wasn't a mission that didn't end with Sam bleeding from the nose after some vision or something. The exhaustion was starting to show. Tempers were thin and they spent far more time arguing than they did engaging in entertaining each other. 

He'd pulled them from rotation and ordered the entire team some down time as soon as the Daedalus had brought them home. He was just dropping his mission reports off with Elizabeth, and then he planned to get a long night's sleep in.

"Ah, Colonel Sheppard, I was going to have Elizabeth call you." Carson said as they both reached the stairs in the gate room at the same time.

"Something wrong?"

"I'm not sure, actually." Carson said. "It's about Sam."

"Shouldn't he be here for this conversation?" John asked as Elizabeth waved them in.

"Aye, probably, but I've given him something to make him sleep."

"And Dean?" Not that he needed Carson to know that Dean was worried, but not apparently with Sam.

"Last I saw of him, he was headed to the gym with Ronon."

"Gentlemen?" Elizabeth looked at them each in turn before they all sat. John put his tablet on her desk and they both looked expectantly at Carson. "How's our boy?"

"He's sleeping now. He should be feeling better by morning." Carson said. "However, I have been noticing something peculiar in his scans. There's an increase in his brain activity, even while heavily sedated. "

"What kind of increase?" John asked.

"And is it dangerous?" Elizabeth added.

"There's no way to know for certain, I'm afraid. At least not yet. I've run a few tests, and so far we've ruled out any tumors or other abnormalities. The area of the brain that seems to be the most active is also the area of the brain affected by the technology that binds those two boys to Colonel Sheppard."

"Which explains why we've been in each other's heads more than before." John said. "Ever since that trip back to earth, Sam's control has gotten stronger, but lately, Dean and I have been…catching up to him? I'm not sure how to explain it. But it's safe to say that these….things were never meant to work like this."

"I want your team on stand down until Carson clears this up." Elizabeth said. 

John nodded. "Already down. We're exhausted anyway." He stood. "I'm going to go check on Sam."

He headed for the infirmary, not certain why, but feeling a sense of urgency. He nodded to one of the nurses, his eyes tracking around the room. Sam was the only patient there, and there was someone standing by Sam's bed, his back to John. 

He crossed cautiously, though the man was in uniform, and as John got closer, he thought maybe it was one of the new rotation of crewmen that had come on the Daedalus. He stepped back and John could feel Sam stirring, some dream chasing him up into consciousness, though it was fuzzy and heavy with the sedative.

"Excuse me."

The lieutenant turned to John and snapped to attention before hiding his hand behind his back. "Sorry, sir. I heard someone say that his name was Sam Winchester. I went to Stanford with a Sam Winchester. I just…I wanted to see if it was the same guy."

"And?"

The young man smiled and shook his head. "Nope, not him. Shame. He still owes me twenty bucks."

"He needs his rest, you get on out of here."

"Yes sir." He saluted again and left quickly.

John sidled up to the bed as Sam's eyes opened. "Hey, you should be asleep."

Sam's face scrunched up and John could feel his confusion and an echo of the nightmare. "Dream." Sam mumbled, and John thought his teeth looked a little bloody.

"Want me to stay?" John asked, sliding a hand over Sam's.

His eyes were already closing, but he sort of nodded as John hitched a hip up to sit beside him. Somehow he knew he'd stopped something terrible from happening, he just wasn't sure what, and for the foreseeable future, John wasn't willing to leave Sam alone.

 

Sam finished a run around the city out on the pier, pausing to swallow down some water and look out over the ocean. It had been a quiet couple of days, despite the constant company. He could hear John in his head, bitching that Sam wasn't where he'd left him and he turned. "I know, I--" 

He was alone on the pier. Sam frowned and reached out for John mentally, sending reassurance, and opening up further when he felt Dean too. They were both anxious and clearly hadn't told him all the reasons why. He pushed a little, but only got vague ideas of trouble and echoes of his own nightmares.

Sam sighed and set into a jog, headed back to his room, and letting John and Dean both know that was where he'd be. He let himself in and headed in to shower. He felt them coming, felt them all but inside him and it was disconcerting for a moment as things blurred and blended before they all separated into individual beings again.

They were waiting for him when he came out of the shower, towel slung low across his hips. "Told you I was fine."

"And I told you to stay where I left you." John said, his voice dark with concern.

"You're being paranoid." Sam replied, scrubbing at his hair with another towel. "There hasn't been a headache or a vision or a nose bleed in days. I'm sleeping better than I have in forever. Whatever it is Carson gave me is working."

There was a deep unease in John that wasn't settling though. Sam could feel it, almost as if it were his own. Sam swallowed and stepped closer, kissing him lightly. "I'm fine."

"You're still having nightmares." Dean said, crossing his arms.

"I've always had nightmares, Dean."

"Not like these."

Sam sighed and sat on the end of his bed. "No, not like these. These are….bloody and powerful and I wake up feeling like I could tear through the walls with my bare hands." He pulled his hands through his hair and looked up at his brother. "I'm handling it."

"Yeah, well, we aren't." John said, sitting beside him.

Sam caught an echo of the dream that had pulled him up out of the dark in the early hours, before the sun had even started to come up, coming from both of them. "Shit. I'm sorry. I didn't know…"

"We're not blaming you." Dean said. "Just trying to figure out what's going on."

Sam had been pondering that on his run. "This is going to sound crazy." He got up again, pacing away, and half way back again before stopping and licking his lips. "It almost feels like…" He shook his head. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but in the dream, just before I wake up, it feels just like it did when Meg was torturing me."

John frowned. "What, like when she was pumping life back into you?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, exactly like."

"How is that possible?" Dean asked, eyeing John. "Could one of those things get in here without us knowing?"

John shook his head. "No. The city's sensors would pick it up."

"What then?"

John sighed and bit his lip. "By my figuring, you only have them when you sleep alone."

"The ones like that, yeah." Sam agreed. "Which is why you've been keeping me so close."

"Actually, I've been worried that the Daedalus brought us more friends from earth to play with, but they're gone now."

"Doesn't mean a demon didn't hitch a ride and jump ships once it got here." Dean observed.

"I'm wondering now if whoever that is has been doing something to Sam on the nights we're not here." John said.

"That's creepy." Sam said with a shiver. "Like what?"

"I don't know, but we're going to find out. Get dressed and meet me in McKay's lab."

 

"This is weird." Dean said, shaking his head and getting up to pace around his room. It was nearly two thirty in the morning and he and John were taking turns watching the bank of monitors feeding them live video of Sam's room, the hallway outside and the balcony off Sam's room from different angles.

"So you've said." John answered, his voice tired. Dean moved to stand beside him, settling his hands to John's shoulders to rub at the tense muscles.

"I mean, the cameras." Dean clarified as he felt John relax a little under his fingers. "I'm usually right there."

"Can't catch whoever or whatever is doing this if you're in there." John responded, looking up at him.

"We should have put a devil's trap above the door." Dean muttered.

"Sheppard, there's movement in the hallway." Ronon's voice came softly over the earpieces.

"Roger that. Stay sharp." 

Dean and John both turned to the screens showing the hallway. A shadow passed the first camera, but it wasn't until the third that they saw the person casting that shadow. It was a lab tech that Dean had seen around, but couldn't remember the guy's name. He moved quickly and quietly to Sam's door.

Ronon moved just as quietly behind him, his gun in his hand. Dean and John watched the screen until the door closed, then darted for the door. Dean squatted outside the door to draw the devil's trap quickly, so the bastard couldn't get out of the room. 

When he was done, he nodded and Ronon swiped his hand over the door lock, charging in immediately, with Dean and John on his heels. Sam's dream was ratcheting up, spilling over into Dean's head. There was memory mixed with fears and blood, echoes of visions, tragedies they couldn't prevent. 

"Stop." John said, his gun leveled at the man who was standing at Sam's bedside.

He lifted his hands and Dean frowned. The fingers of the man's left hand were bleeding, and in his right was a needle. "I'm not finished yet, Dean." The man turned to face him.

"Step away from my brother." Dean growled, his own gun up now as he stepped closer.

"I'm just giving him his medicine. Isn't that right, Sammy?"

Sam was fighting his way out of the dream, shaking his head as he sat up. "Dean?" Groggy gave way to disgust and Sam wiped his face, sticking out his tongue and wiping that on the back of his hand too. "What the hell did he do?"

There was blood smearing the back of Sam's hand, and it was on his lips now too. Dean took a threatening step toward the intruder. "What did you do?"

"Relax, it's just a little blood. Gets him juiced up. Can you feel it, Sam? Don't you want more?"

Sam climbed out of the bed and took the syringe from him, crossing to Dean's side. "And this?"

The man smiled. "Oh, now, that's just special. Straight from Daddy, that is. You think the blood gets you going? That right there is better than an entire body full of demon blood, Sammy. Jack you up until you think you could fly."

Sam was shaking beside him and Dean couldn't begin to keep up with the thoughts and feelings running through him. Sam moved to the nightstand and pulled the Colt out, checking the load and stepping in close.

"Sam, don't." Dean warned. "There's an innocent person in there."

"If we let it get out, it will just come back as someone else." Sam said, the barrel of the gun against the man's ear.

"If we kill this man just to kill the demon…" Dean shook his head. "We exorcise him."

"He hasn't been in your head, Dean. You only get the echoes. " Sam looked at John and Ronon, then back at Dean. "Besides, where would the demon go if we exorcised it here?"

"I don't know, but killing the innocent isn't our way."

Dean reached for him mentally, attempting to use the connection between them to convince Sam he was right. Sam's lowered the gun, but he was still shaking. 

"Sheppard." Ronon's voice pulled Dean's attention to the nightstand behind Sam. The stuff on it was levitating.

"That's it, Sammy, let it out." The intruder was grinning.

Sam's mind was white, not blanked out, but Dean couldn't read anything beyond fury, white hot and ready to explode. The floating glass shattered and their father's journal flew across the room. "Sam?"

"Come on, Sammy, you can do better than that."

Sam screamed and Dean could _feel_ the power that shot out around them. Somewhere behind him glass was breaking, as his knees buckled and Sam's fury dumped into him, hot and filling up all the space inside him until he was sure he was going to explode.

Then everything went silent and after a few minutes he could lift his head. His nose was bleeding and his head was wringing. A quick glance told him that John was in a similar condition. Both Sam and the lab tech were unconscious. The only one still standing was Ronon, who holstered his gun before he reached to help John get up.

Dean crawled until he could reach Sam, reaching to make sure he was okay. "You shoot him?" he asked Ronon as the big man helped him to his feet.

"Seemed logical. Shot 'em both."

Dean frowned and looked down at the lab tech. "Anything come out of him?"

Ronon shook his head. "Nope. Took two shots to put him down though."

Dean nodded. "Okay, we need to get him into a cell, with a devil's trap to keep the demon from smoking out."

"What about Sam?" John asked, squatting beside him.

"Infirmary?" Ronon asked and Dean nodded. At least that way he'd be safe.

 

"So, how exactly do you torture a demon?" John asked as Dean joined him at the table in the mess hall.

"Holy water mostly." Dean said before taking a bite out of his sandwich. "How's Sam?"

"Like you don't know as well as I do?" John asked, rubbing his forehead. 

Dean sort of shrugged. "Trying not to…I don't know….just, it feels weird, okay?"

"Well, apparently Carson thinks that whatever that demon was doing has been expanding the neural pathways that were formed when we got the…technology."

"So…what does that mean?"

John sighed. "We're not sure. But it seems to be making him more receptive. And on top of that, he's clearly transmitting more than before, if my nightmares are any indication. And there's the whole floating and breaking thing."

"I hear that." Dean dropped his sandwich and met John's eye. "When it comes down to it, if I'm not actively blocking him, I sometimes can't tell if what I'm feeling is me or him."

John nodded. "What about our guest? He say anything?"

Dean shook his head. "Just your average demon grandstanding. His father will kill us all. We are no match for what is coming. Yadda yadda."

"Any idea what that is?" John asked. "The what is coming part?"

"The end of the world or some such. This Yellow Eyed demon, he's been planning something for a very long time. Not so sure how we got wrapped up in it, but we are now, so it's up to us to end this."

"I thought we killed him when we blew up that hive."

"Apparently not." Dean finished his sandwich and washed it down with a bottle of water. "At least not as far as this guy knows. He only knows he was sent here to get Sam ready."

"Ready for what?" John asked.

"Hell if I know. Did we find out what was in the syringe?"

John grimaced as he stood. "Yeah, it was Wraith enzyme. It's the stuff they pump into you while they're feeding, or when they're giving you back the life they took from you."

"Probably from the Daddy Demon himself." Dean said. John didn't need extra senses and technology to taste Dean's disgust. "I should get back. Maybe I can get a location out of him."

"And then what?" John asked, walking with Dean toward the door.

"I don't know. Exorcise him? If I knew it would send the demon back to hell…but, I don't. Not from here."

"Maybe we take him back to earth and do it there?" John suggested. "I can ask Elizabeth."

Dean nodded. "Yeah, good idea. If we knock him out and get him secure on the ship, then again when they get to earth…I could get someone to come do the exorcism."

"Let's focus a little closer to home right now. " John said as they reached the corridor that led down to the detention cells. "You see what information you can get. I'm going to check in with Carson."

Ronon was sitting with Sam when John got to the infirmary and he paused by the bed. "How you feeling?"

Sam rubbed at his head and his face scrunched up. "Headache, but otherwise, I'm fine."

"You gave us a good scare. I'm not gonna lie."

"Yeah, about that…" Sam shook his head. "I'm sorry. I don't…I have no idea…"

"Aye, but I'm starting to." Carson said as he joined them, pulling a computer monitor closer. "I've been going over Sam's scans, from the first time he came in through today." The monitor showed the image of a brain, slowly changing. "At first, I might have assumed that it was the collar causing this, but given what we know now from the blood sample we took from our guest, I'm certain that it has been serving as a catalyst. That, and the enzyme."

"So, he's been feeding me blood and injecting that stuff into me all along?" Sam asked, his eyes skipping from the screen to Carson, then John.

"Well, it's hard to tell for certain." Carson said, stopping the monitor and pointing. "This is the first big jump, before this it was all minor changes. Here though, you can see this whole section of your brain light up with activity. It also corresponds to the Daedalus arriving."

Ronon shook his head. "It wasn't Daedalus crew. There's no way they would have access to Wraith enzyme."

"True." John considered the other options. "Wait, didn't they pick up a stranded team on their way in?"

Ronon nodded. "Lt. Thomas and his team, stranded in space above Delfier with no idea how or why."

"Want to bet the Wraith hit Delfier right after that?" Sam asked, moving to get out of bed.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" John asked. There was a blast of frustration and exasperation and a flailing desire to do more coming from Sam, even as Ronon caught his shoulder.

"To talk to Thomas and his team. I'm tired of sitting here."

"No, Ronon and I can deal with them and we'll send a team to Delfier as well. You are staying here until Carson says otherwise."

Sam pushed Ronon back and stood. "There is nothing wrong with me. I'm fine. In fact, I'm better than fine. I feel great." Sam turned to face him and dropped all attempts to block himself from John, letting John feel the truth of his words. He was healthy, strong even. 

"There's still the matter of you breaking glass with your mind." John said.

Sam wasn't letting up. "I've got it under control." He took the two steps toward John, crossing his arms. "I'm tired of waiting for them to do whatever it is they're going to do. It's time to take this fight to them."

"We don't have enough information." John countered. "Dean is trying to get us a location."

"Let me do it." Sam said. "I'll get it to talk."

"How?" 

"I have an idea. I can't…explain exactly, just give me a chance."

"You brother won't like it." John warned.

Sam headed for the door. "No, he won't." 

John and Ronon followed him down from the infirmary to the detention cells. Dean looked up as they came in, opening the door to the cell that held their prisoner. "Sam, what the hell-" 

Sam pushed past him, into the cell, just shy of the devils' trap painted on the floor under the lab tech playing host to a demon. "Tell us where he is." Sam's voice was deep and dark and it made the demon laugh.

"There you are Sammy, come for more medicine?"

Sam reached out a hand and John _felt_ a pull on his stomach, as if that hand were tied to his intestines. Sam's eyes closed and his hand slowly fisted, and the demon stopped laughing. He seemed to be choking.

"Sam?" Dean grabbed his brother's arm and the pull seemed to vanish.

Sam ignored his brother, still intent on the demon. "Tell me where he is."

The lab tech was gasping and gulping at air. His eyes were black. "You learn fast. I only put that part in your head last night."

"Tell us where he is." Sam repeated, pulling his arm free from Dean and grabbing at the air again. The demon sputtered something they couldn't understand and Sam released him. "Say it again."

"The symbols are in this meat suit's room," he gasped.

"Good." Sam reached out again and squeezed until the man was coughing up smoke.

"Sam?" Dean's voice was filled with fear, and it came over the connection between them very clearly. "What are you doing?"

But Sam was fading and his nose was bleeding. Dean grabbed his arm and John stepped closer, grabbing his shoulder, just as Sam lost his grip and stumbled backward. He collapsed, taking Dean and John with him.

"Oh you're not ready for that, yet Sammy boy. Maybe if you had let me finish giving him his medicine--" Ronon shot twice through the door of the cell and the lab tech slumped forward.

John's head was pounding, no…it was Sam's head, but for a moment he wasn't sure, then Ronon was pulling him out from under Sam and Dean was squatting over Sam who was unresponsive, even if the activity in his head was on fast forward. "You getting any of it?" John asked and Dean shook his head. 

"It's a mess. Let's get him up and back to the infirmary."

That at least got through to Sam and he lurched upright, grabbing at the bars of the cell to keep from falling over. "No more infirmary. Just…Just need sleep."

"Sam--"

"No, Dean. I'm…okay…"

"Bullshit." Dean grabbed him and pulled him closer. "If you promise to take the pills. And sleep."

Sam nodded, and reached for John to support him on the other side. Together they walked him to his room, with Ronon bringing up the rear. John waited while Dean cleaned Sam's face up and gave him one of the sleeping pills Carson had given him, making sure he'd swallowed it before he was satisfied.

"Find the symbols." Sam muttered. "Time to stop this."

"You worry about sleeping, let me worry about the symbols." John said, pulling Dean and Ronon out into the hallway. "Are we sure he's safe here alone?"

"I'll stay." Ronon offered. 

"Dean and I will go find this guy's quarters and see if we can find the gate address." John agreed. And then he was going to need to explain all of this to Elizabeth, somehow.

 

"No. Absolutely not." Elizabeth said, shaking her head and standing. "I will not authorize a suicide mission."

"It isn't a suicide mission." Sam interjected. "It's a pre-emptive strike." He forced himself not to get up and pace. "I go in alone with the colt. One shot to the head and it's over. Dean and John and all of Atlantis will be safe."

"You want to go in there by yourself, when you and your brother have been warning us for months that this demon you're after is worse than all the Wraith combined?"

Sam licked his lips. "I know, but he doesn't know I have the Colt, and he won't be expecting me to come alone. In every dream and every vision, Dean and John are there with me, and in every one of them they die. If I go alone they stay alive."

"And what about you?" Elizabeth asked, coming to his side of the desk and leaning against it. "What happens to you?"

Sam bit his lip and looked away, his hands picking at imaginary lint on his jeans. "I…end up…" He sighed explosively and jumped up to pace. "It doesn't end well. That's why I want to go alone. I can change it."

"And what did Colonel Sheppard have to say?"

Sam rolled his shoulders and leaned on the back of the chair. "I haven't said anything to him, or Dean. They'd never agree."

"But you thought I would? Have you even thought about the proximity problem? I know that you have a larger range than when you first came to Atlantis, but you could all fall down dead as soon as you're through the gate."

Sam nodded. That he had taken into consideration. "A lot has changed, and yeah, we haven't tested it, but we've overcome a lot of the programming built into the collars. There's no reason to believe that hasn't changed too."

"No reason to believe it has either." Elizabeth countered. She crossed her arms and looked at him. "I know that you're worried about your brother and Colonel Sheppard. I am too. But running off on your own isn't the way to solve this."

"Every other scenario leads to them dying." Sam said, though he knew he'd lost the argument. Worse, he could feel Dean trying to figure out what he was up to. "Forget I said anything."

He left her office and headed toward Ronon who was leaning against the railing of the stairs. "Dean send you?" Sam asked.

"Nope." Ronon grinned and touched his earpiece. "Got him."

"John." Sam muttered, shaking his head. "This is getting old. I can't even go to the bathroom without one of them worrying about where I am."

"Maybe if you'd stop hiding from them they'd back off."

"I'm not hiding." Sam groused. "Not exactly. But whatever is causing it, our connection is so strong I sometimes can't tell if I'm me, and having the two of them constantly in my head is exhausting."

"I bet." Ronon fell into step beside him, rubbing their shoulders together with a grin. "Can think of better ways to exhaust you."

Sam couldn't help but grin. "Yeah? Just you and me, or are we inviting the wonder twins along for the fun?"

Ronon pulled him into a side corridor and shoved him against the wall, one hand reaching down to grab his cock as he leaned in close. "Don't need anybody else to fuck you into the wall."

Sam's cock twitched and he nipped at Ronon's lips. "Right here in the hallway, Ronon?"

"Maybe."

Sam turned them so Ronon was pressed against the wall. "Little public for my taste. That's more Dean's thing."

Ronon turned them again, pulling on Sam's lip with his teeth. Sam leaned his head to the side, offering up his neck for Ronon's mouth. He nipped at skin until he got to the base of Sam's neck, then he bit and sucked and dragged them further down the hall, his hand swinging out to get the door to a room open.

Sam barely registered some sort of lab before Ronon's hands were pulling at his pants and his mouth was still working on bruising Sam's neck. He let go with a pop and dropped to one knee as he freed Sam's cock, taking it into his mouth quickly, fingers playing with Sam's balls. "Damn." 

Sam reached behind him for the console, bracing himself as Ronon's mouth moved over his cock, quickly bringing him to a full erection and half way to coming. Sam could sort of sense John and Dean, reacting predictably, but then Ronon was standing up and turning him around and his big hands were pushing Sam over the console. There was spit and fingers and way before he was ready, Ronon was pushing into his ass.

The noise in his head rose and his own arousal was joined by Dean's and John's, blurring and blending and magnifying until Sam was coming hard. Ronon didn't slow down, even as Sam was trying to sift through the overwhelming explosion inside his head. Dean's hand was on his cock, even if Dean wasn't in the room, except it was John's hand, or it was Dean's cock or they were all one with one hand and one cock and come all over the place. 

Sam moaned and reached for his cock, half expecting other hands. He was still hard and each touch was like fire, coaxing a little more liquid from him, bringing more of Dean and John and Sam was sure he couldn't come anymore, but then Ronon shifted speed and pulled back to change the angle and he thought Dean was screaming, or was that his voice? He couldn't tell.

The first rush of heat from Ronon's orgasm was too much and Sam whited out, collapsing forward onto the console as his knees gave out. Ronon caught his hips and held him while Sam fought his way back, dragging a hand over his face.

"You all right?"

Sam grinned sheepishly and nodded, testing his weight on rubbery legs before he moved to pull his pants up. "Yeah. That was…intense."

Ronon's grin was huge and Sam laughed. "You should be grateful you aren't a part of this…." He gestured at his neck to indicate the collar. "We should go check on John and Dean."

 

The four of them ended up in John's bed, spending the next couple of hours exhausting each other in every way possible. Sam fell asleep with Dean spooned up behind him, falling quickly under his fatigue. He chased dreams around for a while until something caught his attention and he found himself looking at the demon they had prisoner.

_"You want more, don't you Sam? It's going to make you strong, strong enough to beat them all."_

_"Beat who?" Sam asked, though his voice sounded more like Dean's._

_"Anyone. Everyone. He's waiting for you. If you take what he sent for you, you'll be strong enough."_

_He could see the syringe in the man's hand, felt a desire to feel that power. "I could kill you with it." Sam said, suddenly certain._

_"You could try."_

It was still dark outside the windows as Sam came awake. He slipped from the bed and went into the bathroom to splash his face with cold water. He could still feel the desire, the flush of power and somehow he knew that with the power of the demon beside it, that rush would be stronger, bigger.

He stepped out of the bathroom and listened, watching the bed for signs that any of them had woken with him. When there was none, he went to the door, leaving quietly and making for his room. He got dressed quickly, like he was heading out on a mission. He stopped at the nightstand and retrieved the colt, loading it with the remaining bullets and tucking in his belt.

He moved quickly then, through the halls and down to the infirmary. The night crew was small and in general accustomed to seeing him. He greeted the doctor, his eyes traveling to the case where Carson was keeping the sample of the enzyme they had taken from the demon. He told the doctor he was out of the sleeping pills Carson had given him, and when the doctor left the room to get him more, Sam opened the case and pulled out the vial and a syringe, sticking them in his pocket as the doctor returned. "Thanks."

He went from there to detention, dismissing the guards at the door as the demon realized he was there. "Okay, how do I use it?" Sam asked, holding up the vial.

"Ready to play with the big boys, Sammy? You aren't ready for that. You need what I've got first or it will blow your head off."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, though he suspected he knew.

"Gonna have to get closer, Sammy boy."

Sam opened the door and stepped inside. The demon rattled the restraints keeping it in the chair. "Hope you've got a knife or something."

Sam paused to pull a knife from his boot, then crossed to the chair. "Now what?"

"You're gonna have to cut me, son. Make it nice and clean, deep, then drink down as much as you can."

"You want me to drink your blood. Like some kind of vamp?"

He laughed. "No vampire would get this close to what you're about to taste."

Sam could feel Dean beginning to stir, to realize Sam was gone. He was going to run out of time. "Okay, so I cut you and I drink and then what?"

The demon smiled at him. "Then you inject that and become stronger than you ever imagined."

He adjusted his grip on the knife and stepped closer. It was a disgusting thought, but somehow he knew it was what he needed to get to the yellow eyed demon. In one quick motion, Sam sliced through the man's arm, then leaned in and clamped his mouth around the wound.

Copper tang filled his mouth and he closed his eyes, swallowing quickly so he wouldn't think too much about it. Fire traced down his throat, pooled in his stomach and flared out. His heart raced and every nerve ending in his body seemed alive. Bits and pieces of dreams and visions shifted in his head, slowely forming a more cohesive picture.

Yellow Eyes was waiting for him. This wasn't exactly how it had been meant to go, but he'd meant for this to happen, for Sam to get filled up with the blood, brought to life by it …to become something new. Same pulled back, wiping blood from his face and he raised the vial and syringe. His hands shook as he filled it, but he jabbed the needle into his thigh and pushed the plunger.

For a second he couldn't breathe as it burned it's way into him, feeling through his muscles and flaring to life inside him. Knowledge he shouldn't possess clicked into place and his head filled with what he could do. Sam stood, fully aware of John and Dean, now both fully awake and coming for him, of the smug demon crouching inside the poor man in front of him, of the fact that he could kill that demon with just a bit of effort.

He reached out the hand as the demon laughed, grabbing and pulling it from its host, squeezing until the laughter ended and the smoke was gone. He turned then, knowing he needed to hurry before Dean and John could stop him. He raced up to the gate room, greeting the lone tech working the night shift, and apologizing before he punched the guy out. Sam dialed the gate and watched it come to life. Just before he headed down the stairs, Sam pulled the Colt from his belt and laid it on the console, leaving the equivalent to a mental note attached to it. One he _knew_ both Dean and John would understand. Yellow Eyes expected him. Expected Dean, maybe even John. 

Atlantis was so much more and Sam wasn't planning to walk into this without back up.

Sam knew the gate would close behind him before his brother could stop him, but Dean wouldn't be far behind. He only had to distract the demon long enough for the plan to unfold.

 

Dean came to a screeching halt as the gate closed. John raced past him and up the stairs into the control room. 'Damn it, Sam." Dean yelled, still trying to figure out how Sam kept what he was doing hidden from them up until the moment his senses had just exploded. "What did you do?"

Ronon jogged up behind him, holding up a syringe. "Guy was bleeding and rambling about Sam and demons. Found this on the floor." 

Dean felt the moment John picked up the gun, Sam…asking them to follow, bring back up, he'd clear the gate. "Damn it, Sam." 

"Suit up." John said as he ran down the stairs and tossed the Colt to Ronon. "Sam wants you to have that, and he says to aim for the head."

"So, we're doing this?" Dean asked. They turned as one to run back to get dressed in mission gear and John nodded.

"Yeah, before the proximity issue hits and none of us can move." John said. "Ronon, wake Lorne, have him get two units into jumpers to follow us through. Cloak immediately."

"Got it." Ronon peeled off at a run.

Dean followed John into what served as a locker room because it was closer than their rooms. The absence of Sam in his head was disconcerting after so long having him there. Dean's stomach twisted and John's hand slipped into his, their minds all but sliding into sync as well. "I know." Dean whispered. John didn't have to speak his own fear and anger and determination. They lived in Dean's chest.

They finished dressing and headed for the armory. Ronon caught up with them as they got back to the gate room and Elizabeth was waiting on the stairs, her arms crossed, looking a little sleep mussed. "Colonel Sheppard--"

"We're going after him." John said, his hand on Dean's chest to stop him from saying it. 

"Ronon filled me in." Elizabeth said, signaling the tech to start dialing. "I'm not stopping you, I'm here to ask what you need."

"I've got Lorne and two teams in jumpers ready to go. Sam said he'd clear the gate for us." John said.

Elizabeth nodded and touched her earpiece. "Major Lorne, are you ready?"

"Locked and loaded."

"I want the first jumper to precede Colonel Sheppard's team and ensure that the gate has been cleared."

'Roger that. Just tell us when."

"I do hope you were planning on waiting for us." Teyla said, as she stopped beside Ronon. McKay was beside her, still pulling his vest on.

"I wasn't going to ask…" John said, trailing off as the gate opened. "Clear the space." He gestured for them to get back. "Okay, Lorne, gate's open."

"We're a team." Teyla said with a smile. "There is no need to ask.

Dean was starting to feel a little woozy and a look at John said he was feeling it too. "We need to move."

John nodded and looked up as a jumper lowered into the room and lined up with the gate. It wooshed through and in only a minute Dean could hear Lorne in his ear. "This side is clear. I'll make a sweep around the area and come back for cover."

"Roger that. Team two, be ready for Elizabeth's mark. Dean, Ronon on point, Teyla, keep me apprised of any possible Wraith feelings. Move out."

Dean fell into step beside Ronon, his gun up as they stormed through the gate. There were two stunned or dead Wraith near the dialing device, but other than that, there was nothing to be seen but a low, grassy plain that gave way to trees about a half mile away. They stopped when they were far enough from the gate that the jumper could follow them through.

They watched as it cloaked and moved off toward their right. "Colonel Sheppard, this is Lorne. I think I found what you're looking for."

"What is it, Major?"

"There's a Wraith hive ship on the ground about 30 clicks from here. There are only about twenty life signs though."

"Awfully small for a hive." Ronon said, his hand on the hilt of the Colt.

"I still can't feel Sam at all." Dean said.

"Me either." John answered. "But I'm betting that's where he is."

"So what's the plan?" Ronon asked.

John sighed and pulled a hand through his hair. "I guess, at this point to follow Sam's plan, which as I understand it involves you…doing what you do."

Dean nodded, "And not telling us what that is. If I'm reading his intention he thinks the demon can sense his thoughts, knows what he would plan, and by extension that includes us. He doesn't know shit about you."

"In the meantime, we take out as many of his as we can." John added.

"You know he could have stuffed demons into all of them." Dean said. "Putting them down won't be easy."

"It never is." John said. "It never is. On the bright side, I don't feel like I'm going to pass out anymore."

Dean shook his head with a snort. "Yeah, we've got 'em on the ropes now."

 

Sam made no attempt at hiding when he came through the gate. He set off at a jog, following a path he'd dreamed for weeks. His head was buzzing with the power that had exploded through him and it was nothing to put down the two Wraith standing guard at the gate, yanking the demons from them was all it took for them to fall down dead.

Meg was nearby, Sam could feel her. Some part of him craved what she could give him. More of _this_ , more power. She could make him unstoppable. 

He could see the ship as he paused in the tree line, his heart racing a little, his head starting to feel a little fuzzy. Then everything righted itself and he knew Dean and John were there. Dean was reaching for him, but Sam kept his focus, kept himself out of Dean's reach. He needed the focus.

He pushed all thoughts of Dean and John and whatever plan they might have deep down. They were not a part of what he needed to do. Sam squared his shoulders and set out for the ship. The Yellow Eyed demon was inside there. Waiting.

Sam was pretty sure that he was expected. The door was open when he reached it and the first two Wraith he encountered stepped aside and let them by. He followed the pull of his dreams, leading him down into the belly of the ship, into a room that looked suspiciously like a throne room. 

He recognized Meg as she sidled up to a male Wraith who sat on the throne. Memory flashed through him of when he'd last seen her, but he shoved it away.

"Samuel Winchester, it's about time you joined us." He stood, watching Sam as he descended the three stairs from the throne platform. His eyes flicked to the Wraith on the perimeter of the room. "Go, make sure we aren't disturbed."

"I'm not here to join you." Sam said, taking a step closer. "I told you before, I'm not interested."

"Yes, I recall." The demon smiled at him. "But that was before you knew what I could do for you. Now, you've had a taste."

"I'm here to send you back to hell." Sam said.

He laughed, circling Sam. "Is that what you've come to do? Really, Sam? Do you think you're strong enough for that?" His hand shot out and caught Sam in the chest, almost instantly sucking at his life. Sam's knees buckled and he went down, breaking the connection. "Isn't this meatsuit amazing?"

He held up the hand, flexing the fingers. "I could kill you with this. I could make you more powerful than you ever dreamed with it too." That hand came back and Sam gasped as life soared back into him, fire and power and strength in abundance. 

He staggered to his feet and pulled away, lifting his gun. "Enough. I don't know what it is you want with me, but I really don't care either."

"Well, I'll be honest with you, Sammy. What I wanted when you were a baby is not what I want now. There was this whole plan….you and me, starting the apocalypse, raising Lucifer from the pits of hell to reign over earth…it would have been glorious, Sammy." He strolled back to the throne and sat, one leg casually thrown over the arm. "But now we're here….and here is a wonderful place. Forget ruling earth. Here, we could rule the galaxy."

"This is starting to sound like a bad movie." Sam said, feeling the power inside him build. "Maybe I should kill you before you start monologuing." He reached out, felt for the edges of the demon and grabbed hold.

He laughed. "Are you strong enough for that yet, Sam? Did I give you enough juice?"

Sam pulled harder, and for a minute thought it was working, then there was a hand on his thigh and the power drained out of him. He nearly passed out as he crashed to the floor, ending up with Meg squatting over him, her hand still on his thigh. "You still taste good, Sam. I could eat you up."

"Okay, that's enough. Give it back. I think he's learned his lesson."

Her hand rubbed over the skin exposed through the tear in his pants, her smile sickening as she rolled her eyes, but complied with the order. Sam waited until she started to pull her hand away, then yanked at the demon inside her, succeeding in pulling it out and squeezing it dead. 

"You learn fast, Sammy." He was on his feet again, moving fast. Sam could feel his power, pressure against his chest, shoving him back and then lifting him from his feet. "You're a smart boy, can't you see what I'm offering?"

Sam pushed back at him with all his strength, succeeding at least in getting his feet back on the ground. There were others coming now, more Wraith…but they weren't alone.

"Oh, here comes big brother." The demon's head turned and Sam didn't have to look to know Dean was there, pinned against the wall. "Did he fuck you last night, Sam? Or was that the Colonel?"

"Sam!" Dean was struggling and John yelled as invisible hands dragged him across the floor. With them both in the room, it was harder for Sam to keep them blocked out, keep his focus on the demon.

"Stop." Sam stepped trying to pull out of the invisible grip, sagged a little and let the demon pull him closer. "Leave them alone."

"I promised you I would bleed them both, burn them."

Sam shook his head. "You don't have to." He let all the frustration of the last months, all the disagreements, all of the times he felt smothered fill him up and he met the demon's eyes. "Let me do it."

That pulled the demon's attention back to him. "What's that Sam? You want to gut them?"

"Give me the juice." Sam said, his voice dark and low. "They won't know what hit them."

The demon's smile grew. "Do you think I would trust you with that much power? I thought I had you in that desert and you betrayed me."

"Can you feel what I'm feeling?" Sam asked. He ripped his shirt open, letting the walls between him and Dean and John fall, letting their minds snap together, filling up with the pain and anger and fear they shared, letting it swell out of proportion to all the rest of the emotion and pushing all of it at the demon. "You want me to do it, don't you? Kill them? The way I did Meg? I can, you know? Just need more power."

The demon's hand moved to Sam's already marked chest and pressed against the skin. Sam's eyes rolled closed as the power flowed into him, through him, into Dean and John, building and feeding back to him until everything went white.

Sam opened his eyes as the hand left him. The demon's eyes were wide, it's mouth open as light cracked around the open wound in his head. He fell backwards, and Ronon moved out of the way, the Colt in his hand still smoking.

Sam staggered backward, his senses blown open. Dean and John mirrored his movements, their eyes on him. "Is he dead?" Sam asked, though it sounded to him like they'd all spoken together. 

Ronon nodded and kicked him. "Think so." 

The other Wraith were still coming and Sam turned, raising a hand as the first of them entered the room, growling and dripping with fury. It seemed almost effortless to pull the demon and dump the dead Wraith. Dean and John moved closer, their hands out stretched as they joined him.

"Teyla." Sam could almost see her and Rodney, trying to hold off two Wraith near the engine room. Together, the three of them turned and set off at a run with Ronon behind them. Every Wraith they encountered, they put down . The two pinning down Teyla and Rodney were full of bullet holes, only the demon within keeping them alive. 

They went down and Ronon yelled for Teyla and Rodney to hurry. Sam could feel the separation starting, thoughts blurring, Dean and John moving on their own. It made him a little dizzy. His head was abuzz with their thoughts, with images of people and places, memories that he was pretty sure weren't his own. He reached for Dean as his knees buckled, the input too much for him to handle. 

"We gotta move." 

"Sam, come on Sam." 

He tried to pull himself up, but stumbled and landed on the floor. Big hands pulled him up, hefted him until he was over Ronon's shoulder and they set off at a jog. 

Sam was vaguely aware of the air outside the ship, of the sharp smell of explosives, the force of a blast, then he could _feel_ John telling him to sleep, to rest, that it was over.

 

Before he was even aware that he was awake, Sam was aware of Dean, in the bed beside his, of John in the bed beside that, of Ronon in a chair, watching. He could sense the doctors and nurses, the machines, the city itself. He was home in Atlantis. The Yellow Eyed demon was dead. They were free.

Sam opened his eyes and the room settled into view. Ronon was up instantly and at his side. "Hey."

"Hey." Sam responded, his voice sounding strange, grassly and low.

Carson appeared, stethoscope in hand. "Ah, you're awake finally."

"Finally?" Sam asked, looking up at Ronon.

"Three days." Ronon offered.

"Three days?" Sam frowned. "What happened?"

"You passed out, then Dean did, then John." Ronon responded. "We barely got all of you out of the ship before it blew."

"And you've been unconscious since you got back." Carson added, moving in to listen to his heart. When he was satisfied, he stepped back. "How are you feeling?"

Sam gave himself a once over mentally. He was sore all over, but not hurt. Dean was waking up, John too. "Oh." Sam turned to look at them, then at Carson. "The collars….they're gone."

Carson nodded. "When we got you under the scanner it looked like the technology had just vanished."

Sam shook his head. "No, it was…overloaded." But he could still feel John and Dean just the same."

"Gone?" Dean asked, his hand rubbing over his neck. 

"Why does it still feel like they're there?" John asked.

Sam shrugged. "Must have something to do with what the demon did."

"I feel fine." John said.

"Better than." Dean added, nodding. 

"I'll be the judge of that, young man." Carson said, turning to a nurse to order a bunch of tests. Sam settled back against his pillows, closing his eyes and letting the familiar wash over him. 

 

Dean watch Sam out on the balcony. There was contentment and peace emanating from his brother, emotions he'd never really associated with his family. They were finally safe. The monster that had started them on the path that had led them here was dead. They were free of the technology that had bound them here for the last year.

They could go home.

Sam leaned forward, put his head on his hands on the railing. Sam was home. Dean knew it without asking. John had asked him if he wanted to stay and Dean couldn't answer. Some part of him did. Some part of him loved the family they had become. Maybe even some part of him loved John. 

He stepped out onto the balcony, into the warmth of the late afternoon sun. Sam turned to him when he got close, his lips finding Dean's easily, licking over them. Dean surrendered to the kiss, parting his lips and letting Sam lead. It was comforting. Familiar.

Sam's hands lifted to hold Dean's face, their bodies lining up. Heat flared in Dean's stomach, desire and lust spreading through him. There was an echo of it coming from Sam, and other from John who was nearby. Sam reached out for John, even as he tugged on Dean's hands, pulling him back toward the room. 

The room was warm and Sam's hands on his skin were hot, pulling at his clothes until they had to separate enough to get them off. John's hands were warm too as they slid over Dean's hips, his lips kissing over Dean's shoulders. John held him as he stepped out of his pants, then guided him back toward Sam, who had been joined by Ronon.

As Sam kissed him, Ronon's hand circled Dean's cock and John's lips closed on the side of his neck and when he closed his eyes, Dean could feel Ronon doing the Sam to Sam, feel John's hand on Sam's cock. John and Ronon moved them closer together, lining up their cocks, each of them working over both cocks at once until Dean thought he could come just like that.

Sam was first to break the moment, turning to kiss Ronon, all open mouth and hungry. Dean followed, pulling Ronon in as Sam let go, lips and teeth clashing, Ronon's big hands pushing him toward the bed. There was more clothing coming off and Sam climbing over Dean, his hard cock rubbing through Dean's crack, then Ronon was behind Sam, his fingers pushing into Dean, warm lube easing the way before his slick fingers guided Sam's cock to Dean's hole.

Dean held his breath as he was simultaneously filled and felt as though he was pushing into a hot ass. Then Sam was deep inside him and kissing him and Dean gasped as Ronon's fingers moved inside of Sam, opening him up, filling him up until Dean almost couldn't breathe around the sensation. Ronon and Sam moved almost as one, pressing Sam into Dean and out again.

He felt, more than saw John kneeling beside him, opening his mouth for John's already dripping cock. A hand circled his cock and it was all too much for him, orgasm ripping through him quickly, smearing come over his stomach. John slipped in and out of Dean's mouth, the salt of his precome coating Dean's tongue. Ronon's movements were slow but hard and Sam's cock was hot inside him, filling him as Sam came.

Sam's head fell back against Ronon's shoulder, the long column of his neck exposed. Dean wanted to lick it, swallowing the salty taste as John did the licking. Sam's hand curled around John's cock, keeping rhythm with Ronon until they both groaned and heat filled the air as they came as one.

Sam slid down to lay beside Dean, kissing him before pulling John in to kiss as well. "Does this mean you're staying?" John asked softly.

Sam looked at Dean but didn't say anything. Dean nodded. "Yeah, we're staying."

John smiled and leaned over Sam to kiss Dean. "Welcome home."

Home. It was something they hadn't had in a while, outside of each other.


End file.
